Fama, Hansen, Shiller Share Nobel Economics Prize, Academy Says

Robert J. Shiller poses at an undisclosed location on Jan. 18, 2012. Source: Princeton University Press via Bloomberg

Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their work toward deepening an understanding of how asset prices move.

The prize was awarded for “their empirical analysis of asset prices,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects the winner, said in a statement today in Stockholm.

The prize helps laureates achieve recognition for their theories outside academic circles, often bringing them closer to policy making. Past winners include Milton Friedman, Amartya Sen, James Tobin, Paul Krugman, Robert Solow and Friedrich August von Hayek.Last year’s prize was awarded to U.S. economists Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley for their exploration of how to make markets work more efficiently by better matching supply with demand. In 2009, Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win when she received the prize together with Oliver Williamson for investigating the limits of markets and how organizations work.

Annual prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite who died in 1896, and the first prizes were handed out in 1901. The economics award was set up by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.

Prize Money

The official name is The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The money, 8 million kronor ($1.2 million), a gold medal and a diploma, will be presented to the laureates at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.Last week, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel were awarded the Nobel in chemistry. Francois Englert and Peter W. Higgs shared the physics honor, while James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof were awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The literature prize went to Alice Munro.

This year’s peace prize, awarded Oct. 11 in Oslo, went to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Since 2012, laureates have had to make do with 20 percent less in prize money than previous winners, a move the Nobel Foundation said in June last year was necessary to preserve its capital.