2020 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Claudia Goldin

Harvard University

For her groundbreaking insights into the history of the American economy, the evolution of gender roles and the interplay of technology, human capital and labor markets.

An economic historian and labor economist, Claudia Goldin is best known for her work on women in the U.S. economy. More »

2018 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

David M. Kreps

Stanford University

For his work in game theory, decision theory, and finance profoundly shaped the direction of economic research by providing rigorous foundations and inspirations for new models in applied and theoretical economics.

Professor Kreps has taught MBA and doctoral level courses in decision theory, microeconomics, statistics, operations, competitive strategy, game theory, and human resource management.  More »

2016 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Richard Blundell

University College London and Institute for Fiscal Studies, United Kingdom

For his important contributions to labor economics, public finance and applied econometrics.

Blundell's research improves the foundations for economic policy and furthers our understanding of economic behavior.  More »

2014 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Jean Tirole

Foundation Jean-Jacques Laffont/Toulouse School of Economics and Institute for Industrial Economics, University of Toulouse Capitole

For various contributions to economic theory and its application to finance, industrial organization and behavioral economics

As one of the world’s leading economists, Tirole has been influential in the theoretical and practical application of game theory and information theory to industrial organization and regulation. His research interests also include finance, macroeconomics, international finance, economics and psychology.  More »

2012 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Daron Acemoglu

For fundamental contributions to the understanding of political institutions, technical change and economic growth

Acemoglu is an extremely productive economist whose work is motivated by real-world questions that arise when facts are difficult to reconcile with existing theory. His research covers a wide range of areas within economics, including political economy, economic development and growth, human capital theory, growth theory, innovation, search theory and network economics and learning. His work has propelled him to the frontier of each of the variety of fields he has explored and he has been especially innovative in his most recent area of study dealing with the role of institutions in the political and economic development of nations. More »

2010 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Elhanan Helpman

For fundamental contributions to the understanding of modern international economics and the effects of political institutions on trade policy and economic growth

Helpman is highly cited for his scholarship on international trade, economic growth and the political economy of trade policy. He has done research on how the interaction of lobbying groups and politics shape trade policy and on relationships between international trade and the organizations of firms. More »

2008 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Paul R. Milgrom

For contributions dramatically expanding the understanding of the role of information and incentives in a variety of settings, including auctions, the theory of the firm, and oligopolistic markets

Milgrom's path-breaking work has developed and popularized new tools for the analysis of asymmetric information and strategic interaction and, most significantly, has shown the usefulness of those tools for the analysis of applied problems. More »

2006 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Lars Peter Hansen

For rigorously relating economic theory to observed macroeconomic and asset market behavior and for innovations in modeling optimal policy under uncertainty

Widely recognized as one of the most important empirical economists of our day, Hansen's studies of macroeconomic and asset market behavior are notable for their methodological innovations, combining economic theory and frontier econometric methods. He also has made important contributions in modeling optimal policy under uncertainty. More »

2004 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Ariel Rubinstein

For a broad series of highly original contributions to game theory in economics, ranging from analyses of bargaining and repeated games to models of bounded rationality

Rubinstein's work on non-cooperative bargaining has been extraordinarily influential. Recognized as one of the most important and creative economic theorists of our day, he was among the first to develop a compelling game theoretic model of non-cooperative bargaining with a unique solution to the bargaining problem. More »

2002 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Edward C. Prescott

For work focused on business cycles and economic fluctuations that has greatly influenced the field of economics, as well as industrial organization, finance, general equilibrium theory, econometrics, and other areas of study

Prescott is widely regarded as one of the intellectual leaders of the rational expectations movement within modern macroeconomics. His theory that a substantial part of business cycles are simply the best response of the economy to policy changes that affect the economy's productivity is widely accepted in the field of economics. More »

2000 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Daniel L. McFadden

For pioneering contributions in econometrics and founding modern econometric research on the analysis of discrete choice

McFadden has been highly influential in theoretical and applied economics, contributing important milestones in the development of microeconometrics, the field that deals with the analysis of economic data using models of consumer and firm behavior. The models and methods that he developed have become standard tools used to interpret the decisions made by consumers, firms and governments in a wide variety of contexts. More »

1998 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Robert J. Aumann

For revolutionizing economics and other social sciences by expanding their analysis to issues of strategies, coalitions and information

Aumann's contributions include substantial discoveries about large competitive markets and games with a continuum of players, the development of the general model of coalitional games, the first studies of dynamic strategic interaction with differential information, founding the subject of interactive epistemology and establishing the logical foundation of rational correlated behavior. More »

1996 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Thomas J. Sargent

For his work in both empirical and theoretical macroeconomics, and pioneering research analyzing how consumers and firms form expectations about future government policies

Sargent's work has been instrumental in developing empirical versions of the theory of rational expectations. He applied the theory of rational expectations to study the causes and cures of hyperinflations, the correlation between unemployment and inflations, the term structure of interest rates and the interaction between monetary and fiscal policies. More »

1994 Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Peter A. Diamond

For his analysis of the effects of the public debt on the behavior of the economy in the long run, his revolutionary study of sales and property taxes, and his pioneering of a novel way of thought regarding prosperity and recession

Diamond's path-breaking work has formed the basis for much of what has been written in the past decade about the growth of the U.S. public debt and showed governments how they could raise the required amount of revenue while minimizing the harmful effects of the taxes on the functioning of the economy. More »