2017 Nobel Prize for Economics awarded to Richard H Thaler for his contribution to behavioural economics

The Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded on Monday. In this photo, an employee shows the gold Nobel Prize medal. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, FILE)

The Nobel Prize for Economics was on Monday awarded to Richard H Thaler. Thaler is professor at the University of Chicago for his “contribution to behavioural economics”.

Born 1945 in East Orange, Professor Thaler has been awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on integrating economics with psychology. In a statement, issued, the The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, in memory of Alfred Nobel 2017, has been awared to Richard H Thaler for having incorporated psychologically realistic assumptions into analyses of economic decision-making.

“By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, he has shown how these human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes,” the statement read.

Over the last few days, former RBI Governor and renowned economist Raghuram Rajan was also among those speculated to having been nominated for the top prize. The Nobel Prize Committee does not reveal the names of those nominated for 50 years.

Here is a video of Professor Thaler speaking about behavioural economics