Nobel Prize in Economics announced, two American scholars share the honor

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The 2026 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was announced on Monday (12th). The American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford will jointly win the award. Hall currently works at Stanford University in the United States, and Woodford works at Columbia University in New York.

"It's a great honor and a huge surprise," Woodford told the jury by phone from New York on Monday.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated that the two broke through the traditional Keynesian framework and established an economic model based on the behavior of micro-subjects such as households and businesses. They proved that the daily decisions of countless households and businesses will ultimately shape the direction of the entire economy. This theory has now become an important basis for global central bank decision-making, and has also become an important tool to deal with recession, inflation and energy crises.

John Hassler, chairman of the Economics Prize Committee, said: "The research of the two laureates provides a solid theoretical foundation for the economic models used by central banks and governments around the world today. With these models, we can more effectively respond to various economic shocks, such as energy crises, or sudden major changes in household consumption."

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences pointed out that decades of application of the Keynesian model has exposed its limitations, including failing to effectively curb unemployment and instead pushing up inflation. In contrast, Hall and Woodford's model shows how the decision-making behavior of countless individual households and businesses converges into a force that affects the overall economy.

The winners of the Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace Prizes have been announced previously. The prizes will be awarded at the awards ceremony on December 10. Each prize carries a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor.