RICHARD THALER-US ECONOMIST
WINS 2017 NOBEL PRIZE
U.S. economist Richard Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Economics Prize
for his contributions in the field of behavioural economics, showing how human
traits affect supposedly rational markets, the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences said on Monday.Thaler brought to prominence the idea of
"nudge" economics, where humans are subtly guided toward beneficial
behaviors without heavy-handed compulsion, the theme of a 2008 book he co-wrote
which caught the eye of policymakers around the world.In his award citation,
the Academy said his research had harnessed psychologically realistic
assumptions in analyses of economic decision-making, exploring the consequences
of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control.
"In total, Richard Thaler's contributions have built a
bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual
decision-making," the award-giving body said on announcing the 9 million
Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize."His empirical findings and theoretical
insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field
of behavioral economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of
economic research and policy."The economics prize, officially called the
Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was
established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in
dynamite tycoon Nobel's 1895 will.Economy is the last of this year's Nobels.
The prizes for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace
were all awarded last week.
The United States has dominated the economics prize, with
American economists accounting for roughly half of laureates since the
inception of the award. Indeed, between 2000 and 2013, U.S. academics won or
shared the prize every year.While few economists are household names, past
winners have included Milton Friedman, in 1976, whose work is a cornerstone of
current monetary policy, and James Tobin, in 1981, who proposed countries
should tax financial transactions.Some countries in the European Union agreed
on such a tax to help fight the debt crisis, but implementation has been
delayed, among other things by Britain's decision to leave the bloc.
Prof. John Kurakar
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