On 12 October 2026, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the laureates of the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The award was shared by the American economists Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University.
The prize was awarded "for the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization." The laureates developed models that link macroeconomic processes — inflation, unemployment, fluctuations in output — to the decisions of individual households and firms.
Such models help central banks and governments analyze the consequences of economic shocks, including energy crises and sharp changes in consumption, as well as choose monetary and fiscal policy measures. According to the chairman of the prize committee, John Hassler, the laureates' work created a durable theoretical foundation for the tools that are used throughout the world today.
Hall in 83, Woodford in 71. Both economists earned their PhDs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their approach rests on an understanding of how the decisions of millions of people and companies shape overall economic dynamics.
The monetary portion of the prize in 2026 amounts to 12 million Swedish kronor. It will be divided equally between the laureates. The formal award ceremony will traditionally take place on 10 December in Stockholm.
Models based on the research of Hall and Woodford are widely used in the work of central banks and governments. At the same time, the prize was awarded for a fundamental contribution to economic theory, not for an assessment of the effectiveness of specific anti-crisis measures of recent years.
