Nobel Prize 2020 in Economics awarded to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson for improvements to auction theory

Economist Paul R. Milgrom (Left) and Robert B. Wilson. (Source: Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences”)

The Nobel Prize 2020 in Economic Sciences on Monday was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”

“This year’s Laureates, Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, have studied how auctions work. They have also used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies,” The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release.

BREAKING NEWS:
The 2020 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/tBAblj1xf8

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 12, 2020

“Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,” it added.

The award caps a week of Nobel Prizes and is technically known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Since its establishment in 1969, it has been awarded 51 times and is now widely considered one of the Nobel prizes.

Along with enormous prestige, the prize comes with a 10-million krona ($1.1 million) cash award and a gold medal to be handed out at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death.

In 2019, the award was shared by Indian-American economist Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer. The trio was awarded for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

Who else won the Nobel Prize this year?

*Last week, on Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine to two Americans and a British scientist for their contribution in identifying the Hepatitis C virus, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer.

*On Tuesday, the prized for physics honoured breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes by three scientists– British, German, and an American astrophysicist.

*The Nobel prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to two women scientists behind a powerful gene-editing tool. They become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel for chemistry, joining the like of Marie Curie (1911) and Frances Arnold (2018).

*On Thursday, the literature prize was awarded American poet Louise Gluck for her “candid and uncompromising” work.

*On Friday, the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize 2020 was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe. The announcement was made in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Nobel Committee.

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