Monday, October 12, 2020

Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson


The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 to Paul R. Milgrom of Stanford University and Robert B. Wilson of Stanford University for their work on auction theory and the improvement of auction designs.

Consider it a very technical award this year that does not deal with grand policy questions.

Tyler Cowen writes, "Most of all this is a game theory prize and an economics of information prize, including game theory and asymmetric information."

The Nobel committee has two backgrounders on the award:

It is not a subject area that is of great interest to me but at least they didn't give it to a technocratic central planner.

And I hasten to add that the committee once again ignored the very important work of Austrian school economist Israel Kirzner. I explained in 2019, why he deserves the prize: Why Israel Kirzner Should Be Awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.

-RW

1 comment:

  1. As someone said earlier today: "Huh. Two old white men". I trust he was being ironic.

    As for my ol' pal Izzy, he's one guy who groks the different functions of capitalist and entrepreneur. As opposed to the otherwise reliable Peter Klein.

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