Americans Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson have won the Nobel Prize in Economics for “improvements in auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.” The winners were announced in Stockholm on Monday by Goran Hansson, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The award culminates a week of Nobel laureates at a time when much of the world is experiencing the worst recession since World War II due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Technically known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel, the prize was established in 1969 and is now widely considered one of the Nobel laureates.
Last year’s award went to two researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a third from Harvard University, for their pioneering research on efforts to reduce global poverty.
Few economists could have predicted last fall that the world would come to a virtual standstill in a few months as governments closed their borders, imposed blockades and ordered other measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, triggering a sharp drop in activity. business around the world.
The prestigious award comes with a cash prize of 10 million crowns ($ 1.1 million) and a gold medal.
On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the physiology and medicine prize for discovering the hepatitis C virus, which devastates the liver. Tuesday’s physics award honored advances in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes, and Wednesday’s chemistry award went to the scientists behind a powerful gene-editing tool.
The literature prize was awarded to American poet Louise Glück on Thursday for her “sincere and uncompromising” work. The World Food Program won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its effort to combat hunger around the world.
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