Robert B. Wilson facts for kids

Robert Butler "Bob" Wilson, Jr. (born May 16, 1937) is an American economist. He is a retired professor at Stanford University. In 2020, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He shared this award with his former student, Paul R. Milgrom. They won for their work on improving how auctions work.

Wilson is known for his ideas in management science and business economics. He helped create new ways to use game theory in business. His research on how companies set prices has changed how big businesses, especially in the energy industry, operate.

Robert Wilson's Early Life and Education

Robert Wilson was born on May 16, 1937, in Geneva, Nebraska. He went to Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. He earned a full scholarship to Harvard University. He got his first degree from Harvard College in 1959.

Later, he earned two more degrees from the Harvard Business School. He received his M.B.A. in 1961 and his D.B.A. in 1963. After a short time at the University of California, Los Angeles, he joined Stanford University in 1964.

How Robert Wilson Changed Economics

Wilson is famous for his research and teaching. He focuses on how markets are designed, how prices are set, and how people negotiate. He is an expert in game theory and how it can be used in real life.

He has greatly helped design auctions and bidding plans. This includes auctions for oil, communication, and power. His ideas on pricing for electricity have been used by power companies.

Understanding Group Decisions

In 1968, Wilson wrote an important paper called The Theory of the Syndicates. This paper asked a big question: How do groups of people make choices and share risks in the best way? This work influenced many students in economics and finance.

Wilson has written about 100 articles and books. He has also been an editor for several journals.

His Book on Pricing

In 1993, Wilson published a book called Nonlinear Pricing. This book looked at how public services like power, communication, and transport set their prices. The book won the Leo Melamed Prize in 1995. This award is given for great work by a business professor.

Wilson's work in game theory also covers other areas. These include wage talks and strikes. He has also studied how a company's reputation affects price wars.

Awards and Honors

Robert Wilson has received many honors for his work. He has published about 100 articles and books since finishing his education at Harvard.

Nobel Prize in Economics

In 2020, Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. They were honored for making "improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats." Their work has helped sellers, buyers, and taxpayers worldwide.

Alvin E. Roth, another Nobel winner and one of Wilson's former students, said that Wilson and Milgrom "changed how things are auctioned." Wilson's work helped explain "common value auctions." In these auctions, bidders try to guess the true value of something, like radio frequencies or minerals. He showed that bidders often bid lower to avoid the "winner's curse." This happens when the winning bidder pays too much because they overestimated the item's value.

Other Memberships and Awards

Wilson is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a "distinguished fellow" of the American Economic Association. In 1986, he received an honorary Doctor of Economics degree. In 1995, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Chicago.

In 2014, Wilson won a Golden Goose Award for his work on auction design. He also won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in 2015. This was for his work on how people make decisions when they have limited information. In 2018, he won the John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science with his colleagues David M. Kreps and Paul Milgrom.

See also

In Spanish: Robert B. Wilson para niños

• Wilson doctrine (economics)