American economists Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson yesterday won the 2007 Nobel for economics for an economic theory that determines when markets are working effectively.
Hurwicz, Russian-born but an American citizen, is 90 years old and is the oldest-ever recipient of a Nobel prize.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the three established "mechanism design theory", which looks at how well different institutions fare in allocating resources and whether government intervention is needed.
Their research has helped explain mechanisms and decision-making procedures involved in economic transactions.
Hurwicz, born in Moscow in 1917, initiated the theory that was further developed by Maskin of Princeton University and Myerson of the University of Chicago, the academy's citation said. "I really didn't expect it," said the Moscow-born researcher, an economics professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
"There were times when other people said I was on the short list, but as time passed and nothing happened I didn't expect the recognition would come because people who were familiar with my work were slowly dying off," he said.
The economists will share a prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.57 million).
"Today, mechanism design theory plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science," the academy's citation said.
"Adam Smith's classical metaphor of the invisible hand refers to how the market (works) ... under ideal conditions," it said.
"But in practice conditions are usually not ideal," it added. "For example, competition is not completely free, consumers are not perfectly informed ..."
Eric Maskin was born in New York City in 1950 and received a doctorate in applied mathematics from Harvard in 1976. He is currently the Albert O. Hirschman Professor of Social Science, at the Institute for Advance Study, Princeton.
Maskin said he was relieved Hurwicz was among the winners. "Many of us had hoped for many years that he would win," Maskin told reporters in Stockholm in a conference call. "He is 90 years old now. It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to share the prize with him and with Roger Myerson."
Roger Myerson was born in Boston in 1951. Like Maskin, he finished a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard in 1976. He is currently the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.
Past economic prize winners
2006: American Edmund S. Phelps for furthering knowledge of trade-offs between inflation and unemployment.
2005: Robert J. Aumann, of Israel and the US, and American Thomas C. Schelling, for work in game-theory analysis.
2004: Finn E. Kydland, Norway, and Edward C. Prescott, US, for their contribution to dynamic macroeconomics.
2003: Robert F. Engle, US, and Clive W.J. Granger, Britain, for their use of statistical methods for economic time series.
2002: Daniel Kahneman, US and Israel, and Vernon L. Smith, US, for pionee ring use of psychological and experimental economics in decision-making.
2001: George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz, US, for research into how information affects markets.
2000: James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden, US, for work in developing theories to analyze labor data and how people make work and travel decisions.
1999: Robert A. Mundell, Canada, for innovative analysis of exchange rates that helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Europe's common currency.
1998: Amartya Sen, India, for contributions to welfare economics, which help explain the economic mechanisms underlying famines and poverty.
1997: Robert C. Merton and Myron S. Scholes, US, for developing a formula for the valuation of stock options.
Source: China Daily/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article