Three Americans share Economics Nobel

15 Oct 2007

1
Mumbai: Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson of the United States won the Nobel Prize in Economic for work on optimal allocation that helps explain situations that help markets work well.

In a three-way allocation, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Eric S. Maskin, of the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey; and Roger B. Myerson, of the University of Chicago.

The three researchers "laid the foundations of mechanism design theory," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

"Mechanism design theory initiated by Leonid Hurwicz and further developed by Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson has greatly enhanced our understanding of optimal allocation mechanisms in such situations, accounting for individuals'' incentives and private information," it said.

The award recognises the scholars'' work in creating mechanism-design theory, which "greatly enhanced our understanding of the properties of optimal allocation mechanisms" in situations when competition is not free and consumers have unequal information, it added

Their theory allows economists, governments and businesses to "distinguish situations (that) work well from those in which they do not."

The economics award, one of the original Nobel Prizes, was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank in Nobel''s memory. Nobel Prize winners receive 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million), a gold medal and diploma from the Swedish king on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel''s death in 1896.

Last year American Edmund S Phelps won the prize for explaining the relationship between inflation and unemployment, work that has had a profound impact on macroeconomics policy.

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