Two researchers at American universities have been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize for economics.
Yale University’s William Nordhaus was named for integrating climate change into long-term macroeconomic analysis and New York University’s Paul Romer was awarded for factoring technological innovation into macroeconomics.
They will share the 9-million-kronor ($1.01 million) prize, announced Monday
The award that concludes this year’s series of Nobel prizes came about seven decades after the others.
When Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel established the prizes in his will, economics wasn’t one of the undertakings he wanted honored. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was established by Sweden’s central bank and first given out in 1969.
Whether economics is a genuine science in the sense of the Nobels awarded for accomplishments in medicine, chemistry and physics can be debated; the award often goes to work that has a high level of abstraction.
Last year’s win by American Richard Thaler was unusually accessible to the layman — his work studied the human irrationality that can mess with economic theory.
2018 Nobel Prizes
Monday, Oct. 1: Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for advances in discovering how the immune system can fight off cancer.
Tuesday, Oct. 2: Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.
Wednesday, Oct. 3: Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Frances Arnold, George Smith, and Gregory Winter for using evolutionary methods to solve modern problems.
Friday, Oct. 5: Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their work to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Monday, Oct. 8: Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to William Nordhaus and Paul Romer for research “about innovation, climate and economic growth.”
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