The Nobel prize in economics rewards advances in auction theory
For the third time since 2007, it goes to designers of market mechanisms
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/20201017_FND000_0.jpg)
IN 1991 ALVIN ROTH, who in 2012 would share the Nobel prize for economics, was asked how the discipline might change over the century to come. “In the long term”, he wrote, “the real test of our success will be not merely how well we understand the general principles which govern economic interactions, but how well we can bring this knowledge to bear on practical questions of microeconomic engineering.” Sweden’s Royal Academy of Science seems to agree. On October 12th it gave this year’s Nobel prize to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, both of Stanford University, for their work on auction theory and design. Their work epitomises economics as engineering.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Winning bids”
Finance & economics October 17th 2020
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