- Royal Swedish Academy announced 2026 Nobel Economics Prize winners.
- Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford are the laureates.
- Honored for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.
Nobel Prize in Economics 2026: American-born economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics on Monday for their work on models that have helped governments and central banks manage economic shocks. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners in Stockholm, saying the winners were being honoured "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation." "The laureates have helped us smooth out the economy's peaks and troughs," the academy said in a statement.
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” #NobelPrize https://t.co/2i7ktB1Q2b
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 12, 2026
Economic shock model
According to the statement released by the memorial, Hall argued that changes in consumption could not be predicted because they depend on new, and thus unpredictable, information. Hall presented his results in an article in 1978, which was something of a eureka moment for
2026 economic sciences laureate Robert E. Hall’s hypothesis was that changes in consumption could not be predicted because they depend on new – and thus unpredictable – information. Hall presented his results in an article in 1978, which was something of a eureka moment for research. His work became key to the development of modern research on consumption. #NobelPrize
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 12, 2026
The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Last year, three researchers who study business innovation won for explaining how new products and inventions promote economic growth and human welfare, even as they leave older companies in the dust.
Nobel Prize
The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes.
Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, but it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel honours were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organisation.
(With inputs from agency)