List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economic Sciences facts for kids

The announcement of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in Stockholm. The winner of the prize was Paul Krugman.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially known as The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (Swedish: Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an award funded by Sveriges Riksbank and is annually awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to researchers in the field of economic sciences. The first prize was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award that has varied throughout the years. In 1969, Frisch and Tinbergen were given a combined 375,000 SEK, which is equivalent to 2,871,041 SEK in December 2007. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

As of the awarding of the 2023 prize, 55 Prizes in Economic Sciences have been given to 93 individuals. As of October 2023, the department of economics with the most affiliated laureates in economic sciences is the University of Chicago, with 16 affiliated laureates. As of 2023, the institutions with the most PhD (or equivalent) graduates who went on to receive the prize are Harvard University and MIT (13 each), followed by the University of Chicago (10). As of 2023, the institutions with the most affiliated faculty at the time of the award are the University of Chicago (15), followed by MIT, Princeton University, and Harvard University (8 each).

Laureates

Year	Portrait	Laureate (birth/death)	Country	Rationale	PhD (or equivalent) alma mater	Institution (most significant tenure/at time of receipt)	Key contributions (non-exhaustive)
1969		Ragnar Frisch (1895–1973)	Norway	"for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes"	University of Oslo	University of Oslo	Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem, Conjectural variation
		Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994)	Netherlands		Leiden University	Erasmus University	Econometrics, Policy instruments
1970		Paul Samuelson (1915–2009)	United States	"for the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science"	Harvard University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Revealed preference, Samuelson condition, Social Welfare Function, Efficient-market hypothesis, Turnpike theory, Balassa–Samuelson effect, Stolper–Samuelson theorem, Overlapping generations model
1971		Simon Kuznets (1901–1985)	United States	"for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development"	Columbia University	Harvard University	Gross domestic product, Capital formation, Kuznets cycle, Kuznets curve
1972		John Hicks (1904–1989)	United Kingdom	"for their pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory"	University of Oxford	University of Oxford	IS–LM model, Hicksian demand function, substitution effect, income effect, Kaldor–Hicks efficiency
		Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017)	United States		Columbia University	Harvard University	Fundamental theorems of welfare economics, Arrow's impossibility theorem, Arrow–Debreu model, Endogenous growth theory,
1973		Wassily Leontief (1905–1999)	Soviet Union  United States	"for the development of the input-output method and for its application to important economic problems"	University of Berlin	Harvard University	Input–output model, Leontief paradox
1974		Gunnar Myrdal (1898–1987)	Sweden	"for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena"	Stockholm University	Stockholm University	Circular cumulative causation
		Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992)	Austria  United Kingdom		University of Vienna	London School of Economics University of Chicago University of Freiburg University of Salzburg	Austrian business cycle theory, Economic calculation problem, Spontaneous order, Information economics
1975		Leonid Kantorovich (1912–1986)	Soviet Union	"for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources"	Leningrad State University	Novosibirsk State University	Linear programming, Kantorovich theorem, Kantorovich inequality, Kantorovich metric
		Tjalling Koopmans (1910–1985)	Netherlands  United States		University of Leiden	University of Chicago Yale University	Linear programming
1976		Milton Friedman (1912–2006)	United States	"for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilisation policy"	Columbia University	University of Chicago	Monetarism, Permanent income hypothesis, Natural rate of unemployment, Sequential analysis, Helicopter money, Great Contraction, Friedman rule, Friedman–Savage utility function, Friedman test
1977		Bertil Ohlin (1899–1979)	Sweden	"for their pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements"	Stockholm University	Stockholm School of Economics	Heckscher–Ohlin model
		James Meade (1907–1995)	United Kingdom		University of Cambridge	University of Cambridge	Nominal income target
1978		Herbert A. Simon (1916–2001)	United States	"for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations"	University of Chicago	Carnegie Mellon University	Bounded rationality, satisficing, preferential attachment
1979		Theodore Schultz (1902–1998)	United States	"for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries"	University of Wisconsin-Madison	University of Chicago	Human Capital Theory
		Arthur Lewis (1915–1991)	Saint Lucia  United Kingdom		London School of Economics	Princeton University	Lewis model, Lewis turning point
1980		Lawrence Klein (1920–2013)	United States	"for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	University of Pennsylvania	Macroeconomic forecasting (LINK project)
1981		James Tobin (1918–2002)	United States	"for his analysis of financial markets and their relations to expenditure decisions, employment, production and prices"	Harvard University	Yale University	Tobin tax, Tobit model, Tobin's q, Baumol–Tobin model
1982		George Stigler (1911–1991)	United States	"for his seminal studies of industrial structures, functioning of markets and causes and effects of public regulation"	University of Chicago	University of Chicago	Regulatory capture
1983		Gérard Debreu (1921–2004)	France	"for having incorporated new analytical methods into economic theory and for his rigorous reformulation of the theory of general equilibrium"	University of Paris	University of California, Berkeley	Arrow–Debreu model, Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu theorem
1984		Richard Stone (1913–1991)	United Kingdom	"for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis"	University of Cambridge	University of Cambridge	National accounts
1985		Franco Modigliani (1918–2003)	Italy	"for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets"	The New School for Social Research	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Modigliani–Miller theorem, Life-cycle hypothesis
1986		James M. Buchanan (1919–2013)	United States	"for his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision-making"	University of Chicago	George Mason University	Constitutional economics
1987		Robert Solow (1924–2023)	United States	"for his contributions to the theory of economic growth"	Harvard University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Solow–Swan model
1988		Maurice Allais (1911–2010)	France	"for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources"	École Polytechnique	École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris Paris Nanterre University	OLG model, Allais paradox, Golden Rule savings rate
1989		Trygve Haavelmo (1911–1999)	Norway	"for his clarification of the probability theory foundations of econometrics and his analyses of simultaneous economic structures"	University of Oslo	University of Oslo	Balanced budget multiplier
1990		Harry Markowitz (1927–2023)	United States	"for their pioneering work in the theory of financial economics"	University of Chicago	City University of New York	Modern portfolio theory, Markowitz model, Efficient frontier
		Merton Miller (1923–2000)			Johns Hopkins University	Carnegie Mellon University University of Chicago	Modigliani–Miller theorem
		William F. Sharpe (b. 1934)			University of California, Los Angeles	Stanford University	Sharpe Ratio, Binomial options pricing model, Returns-based style analysis
1991		Ronald Coase (1910–2013)	United Kingdom	"for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy"	London School of Economics	University of Chicago London School of Economics	Transaction costs, Coase theorem, Coase conjecture
1992		Gary Becker (1930–2014)	United States	"for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including non-market behaviour"	University of Chicago	University of Chicago	Human Capital Theory
1993		Robert Fogel (1926–2013)	United States	"for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change"	Johns Hopkins University	University of Chicago	Cliometrics
		Douglass North (1920–2015)			University of California, Berkeley	Washington University in St. Louis
1994		John Harsanyi (1920–2000)	Hungary  United States	"for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games"	Stanford University	University of California, Berkeley	Bayesian game, Preference utilitarianism, Equilibrium selection
		John Forbes Nash (1928–2015)	United States		Princeton University	Princeton University	Nash equilibrium, Nash embedding theorem, Nash functions, Nash–Moser theorem
		Reinhard Selten (1930–2016)	Germany		Goethe University Frankfurt	University of Bonn	Experimental economics
1995		Robert Lucas, Jr. (1937–2023)	United States	"for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened our understanding of economic policy"	University of Chicago	University of Chicago	Rational expectations, Lucas critique, Lucas paradox, Lucas aggregate supply function, Uzawa–Lucas model
1996		James Mirrlees (1936–2018)	United Kingdom	"for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information"	University of Cambridge	University of Oxford University of Cambridge	Optimal labor income taxation
		William Vickrey (1914–1996)	Canada  United States		Columbia University	Columbia University	Vickrey auction, Revenue equivalence, Congestion pricing
1997		Robert C. Merton (b. 1944)	United States	"for a new method to determine the value of derivatives"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Black–Scholes–Merton model, ICAPM, Merton's portfolio problem
		Myron Scholes (b. 1941)	Canada  United States		University of Chicago	Stanford University	Black–Scholes–Merton model
1998		Amartya Sen (b. 1933)	India	"for his contributions to welfare economics"	University of Cambridge	Harvard University University of Cambridge	Human development theory, Capability approach
1999		Robert Mundell (1932–2021)	Canada	"for his analysis of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange rate regimes and his analysis of optimum currency areas"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Columbia University	Optimum currency area, Supply-side economics, Mundell–Fleming model, Mundell–Tobin effect
2000		James Heckman (b. 1944)	United States	"for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples"	Princeton University	University of Chicago	Heckman correction
		Daniel McFadden (b. 1937)		"for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice"	University of Minnesota	University of California, Berkeley Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Discrete choice models
2001		George Akerlof (b. 1940)	United States	"for their analyses of markets with information asymmetry"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Georgetown University University of California, Berkeley	Adverse selection (The Market for Lemons), Efficiency wage, Identity economics
		Michael Spence (b. 1943)			Harvard University	Harvard University	Signalling theory
		Joseph Stiglitz (b. 1943)			Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Princeton University Columbia University	Screening theory, Henry George theorem, Shapiro–Stiglitz theory
2002		Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024)	Israel  United States	"for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty"	University of California, Berkeley	Princeton University University of British Columbia	Behavioral economics, Prospect theory, loss aversion, cognitive biases
		Vernon L. Smith (b. 1927)	United States	"for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms"	Harvard University	University of Arizona	Experimental economics, Combinatorial auction
2003		Robert F. Engle (b. 1942)	United States	"for methods of analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility (ARCH)"	Cornell University	University of California, San Diego	ARCH
		Clive Granger (1934–2009)	United Kingdom	"for methods of analyzing economic time series with common trends (cointegration)"	University of Nottingham	University of California, San Diego	Cointegration, Granger causality
2004		Finn E. Kydland (b. 1943)	Norway	"for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles"	Carnegie Mellon University	University of California, Santa Barbara	RBC theory, Dynamic inconsistency in monetary policy
		Edward C. Prescott (1940–2022)	United States		Carnegie Mellon University	Carnegie Mellon University Arizona State University University of Minnesota	Hodrick-Prescott filter
2005		Robert J. Aumann (b. 1930)	United States  Israel	"for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Correlated equilibrium, Aumann's agreement theorem
		Thomas C. Schelling (1921–2016)	United States		Harvard University	Yale University Harvard University	Schelling point, Egonomics
2006		Edmund S. Phelps (b. 1933)	United States	"for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy"	Yale University	Columbia University	Golden Rule savings rate, Natural rate of unemployment, Statistical discrimination
2007		Leonid Hurwicz (1917–2008)	Poland  United States	"for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory"	London School of Economics	University of Minnesota Iowa State University	Mechanism design
		Eric S. Maskin (b. 1950)	United States		Harvard University	Harvard University
		Roger Myerson (b. 1951)			Harvard University	Northwestern University
2008		Paul Krugman (b. 1953)	United States	"for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Princeton University	New trade theory, New Economic Geography, Home market effect
2009		Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012)	United States	"for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons"	University of California, Los Angeles	Indiana University	Institutional Analysis and Development framework
		Oliver E. Williamson (1932–2020)		"for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm"	Carnegie Mellon University	University of Pennsylvania University of California, Berkeley	New institutional economics
2010		Peter A. Diamond (b. 1940)	United States	"for their analysis of markets with search frictions"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Diamond–Mirrlees efficiency theorem, Diamond coconut model
		Dale T. Mortensen (1939–2014)			Carnegie Mellon University	Northwestern University	Matching theory
		Christopher A. Pissarides (b. 1948)	Cyprus  United Kingdom		London School of Economics	London School of Economics	Matching theory
2011		Thomas J. Sargent (b. 1943)	United States	"for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"	Harvard University	Hoover Institution University of Minnesota	Policy-ineffectiveness proposition
		Christopher A. Sims (b. 1942)			Harvard University	Princeton University	Vector autoregression in macroeconomics, Fiscal theory of the price level, Rational inattention
2012		Alvin E. Roth (b. 1951)	United States	"for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design"	Stanford University	Stanford University Harvard University	Stable marriage problem, Repugnancy costs
		Lloyd S. Shapley (1923–2016)			Princeton University	University of California, Los Angeles	Shapley value, stochastic game, Potential game, Shapley–Shubik power index, Bondareva–Shapley theorem, Gale–Shapley algorithm, Shapley–Folkman lemma
2013		Eugene F. Fama (b. 1939)	United States	"for their empirical analysis of asset prices"	University of Chicago	University of Chicago	Fama–French three-factor model, Weak, semi-strong, and strong efficient-market hypothesis
		Lars Peter Hansen (b. 1952)			University of Minnesota	University of Chicago	Generalized method of moments
		Robert J. Shiller (b. 1946)			Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Yale University	Case–Shiller index, CAPE Index
2014		Jean Tirole (b. 1953)	France	"for his analysis of market power and regulation"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Toulouse School of Economics School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences	Markov perfect equilibrium, Two-sided market
2015		Angus Deaton (b. 1945)	United Kingdom  United States	"for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare"	University of Cambridge	Princeton University	Almost ideal demand system, Pseudo panels, Household surveys in developing countries
2016		Oliver Hart (b. 1948)	United Kingdom  United States	"for their contributions to contract theory"	Princeton University	Harvard University	Moral Hazard, Incomplete contracts
		Bengt Holmström (b. 1949)	Finland		Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Informativeness Principle
2017		Richard Thaler (b. 1945)	United States	"for his contributions to behavioural economics"	University of Rochester	Cornell University University of Chicago	Nudge Theory, Mental Accounting, Choice Architecture
2018		William Nordhaus (b. 1941)	United States	"for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Yale University	DICE model
		Paul Romer (b. 1955)		"for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis"	University of Chicago	New York University	Incorporation of R&D to the Endogenous growth theory
2019		Abhijit Banerjee (b. 1961)	United States	"for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty"	Harvard University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Use of RCTs in development economics
		Esther Duflo (b. 1972)	France  United States		Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
		Michael Kremer (b. 1964)	United States		Harvard University	Harvard University
2020		Paul Milgrom (b. 1948)	United States	"for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats"	Stanford University	Stanford University	Simultaneous multiple round auctions (SMRA), No-trade theorem, Market design, Reputation effects (game theory), supermodular games, monotone comparative statics, Linkage principle, Deferred-acceptance auction
		Robert B. Wilson (b. 1937)			Harvard University	Stanford University	Simultaneous multiple round auctions (SMRA), Common value auction, Reputation effects (game theory), Wilson doctrine
2021		David Card (b. 1956)	Canada  United States	"for his empirical contributions to labour economics"	Princeton University	University of California, Berkeley	Natural experiments on labour economics (incl. Difference in differences)
		Joshua Angrist (b. 1960)	United States  Israel	"for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships"	Princeton University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Local average treatment effect, natural experiments to estimate causal links
		Guido Imbens (b. 1963)	United States  Netherlands		Brown University	Stanford University
2022		Ben Bernanke (b. 1953)	United States	"for research on banks and financial crises"	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Princeton University Brookings Institution	Analysis of the Great Depression
		Douglas Diamond (b. 1953)			Yale University	University of Chicago	Diamond–Dybvig model
		Philip H. Dybvig (b. 1955)			Yale University	Washington University in St. Louis
2023		Claudia Goldin (b. 1946)	United States	"for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes"	University of Chicago	Harvard University	Analysis of historical experience of women in the economy
2024		Daron Acemoglu (b. 1967)	Turkey  United States	"for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity"	London School of Economics	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
		Simon Johnson (b. 1963)	United Kingdom  United States		Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
		James A. Robinson (b. 1955)	United Kingdom		Yale University	University of Chicago

List of Economic Nobel laureates by PhD (or equivalent) alma mater

Institution	Country	Number of laureates
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States	14 (1980, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024) Lawrence Klein, Robert C. Merton, Robert Mundell, Joseph Stiglitz, George Akerlof, Robert J. Aumann, Paul Krugman, Peter A. Diamond, Robert J. Shiller, Jean Tirole, William Nordhaus, Esther Duflo, Ben Bernanke, Simon Johnson
Harvard University	United States	13 (1970, 1981, 1987, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2007, 2011, 2011, 2019, 2019, 2020) Paul Samuelson, James Tobin, Robert Solow, Michael Spence, Vernon L. Smith, Thomas C. Schelling, Roger Myerson, Eric S. Maskin, Thomas J. Sargent, Christopher A. Sims, Abhijit Banerjee, Michael Kremer, Robert B. Wilson
University of Chicago	United States	10 (1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992.1995, 1997, 2013, 2018, 2023) Herbert A. Simon, George Stigler, James M. Buchanan, Harry Markowitz, Gary Becker, Robert Lucas, Jr., Myron Scholes, Eugene F. Fama, Paul Romer, Claudia Goldin
Princeton University	United States	6 (1994, 2000, 2012, 2016, 2021, 2021) John Forbes Nash, James Heckman, Lloyd S. Shapley, Oliver Hart, David Card, Joshua Angrist
London School of Economics	United Kingdom	5 (1979, 1992, 2007, 2010, 2024) C. A. Pissarides, L. Hurwicz, R. Coase, W. A. Lewis, Daron Acemoglu
University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	5 (1977, 1984, 1996, 1998, 2015) James Meade, Richard Stone, James Mirrlees, Amartya Sen, Angus Deaton
Carnegie Mellon University	United States	4 (2004, 2004, 2009, 2010) Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott, Dale T. Mortensen
Columbia University	United States	4 (1971, 1972, 1976, 1996) William Vickrey, Milton Friedman, Kenneth Arrow, Simon Kuznets
Stanford University	United States	4 (1994, 2012, 2016, 2020) Paul Milgrom, Bengt Holmström, Alvin E. Roth, John Harsanyi
Yale University	United States	4 (2006, 2022, 2022, 2024) Edmund S. Phelps, Douglas Diamond, Philip H. Dybvig, James A. Robinson
Johns Hopkins University	United States	2 (1990, 1993) Merton Miller, Robert Fogel
Leiden University	Netherlands	2 (1969, 1975) Jan Tinbergen, Tjalling Koopmans
Stockholm University	Sweden	2 (1974, 1977) Gunnar Myrdal, Bertil Ohlin
University of California, Berkeley	United States	2 (1993, 2002) Douglass North, Daniel Kahneman
University of California, Los Angeles	United States	2 (1990, 2009) William F. Sharpe, Elinor Ostrom
University of Minnesota	United States	2 (2000, 2013) Daniel McFadden, Lars Peter Hansen
University of Oslo	Norway	2 (1969, 1989) Ragnar Frisch, Trygve Haavelmo
Brown University	United States	1 (2021) Guido Imbens
Cornell University	United States	1 (2003) Robert F. Engle
École Polytechnique	France	1 (1988) Maurice Allais
Goethe University Frankfurt	Germany	1 (1994) Reinhard Selten
Leningrad State University	Soviet Union	1 (1975) Leonid Kantorovich
The New School for Social Research	United States	1 (1985) Franco Modigliani
University of Berlin	Germany	1 (1973) Wassily Leontief
University of Nottingham	United Kingdom	1 (2003) Clive Granger
University of Oxford	United Kingdom	1 (1972) John Hicks
University of Paris	France	1 (1983) Gérard Debreu
University of Rochester	United States	1 (2017) Richard Thaler
University of Vienna	Austria	1 (1974) Friedrich Hayek
University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States	1 (1979) Theodore Schultz

List of Economic Nobel laureates by country

Country	Number of laureates
United States	70
United Kingdom	13
Canada	4
France	4
Israel	3
Netherlands	3
Norway	3
India	2
Soviet Union	2
Sweden	2
Austria	1
Cyprus	1
Finland	1
Germany	1
Hungary	1
Italy	1
Poland	1
Saint Lucia	1
Turkey	1

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Ganadores del Premio de Economía Conmemorativo de Alfred Nobel para niños

• List of Nobel laureates