People walk by Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus on March 12, 2019, in Stanford, California.
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Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, professors at Stanford University, were awarded on Monday the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on auction theory.
- “Over time, societies have allocated ever more complex objects among users, such as landing slots and radio frequencies. In response, Milgrom and Wilson invented new formats for auctioning off many interrelated objects simultaneously, on behalf of a seller motivated by broad societal benefit rather than maximal revenue,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its release.
- “Their discoveries have benefited sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,” the Academy noted.
- The laureates’ findings allowed them to design auction formats for goods and services hard to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies.
A screen shows pictures of U.S. economists Paul Milgrom (L) and Robert Wilson during the announcement of the winners of the “2020 Nobel Prize Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel” in Stockholm on October 12, 2020.
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U.S. universities confirm their dominance in the economics field with 57 of the 91 Nobel laureates since the prize was founded in 1969. The U.K. comes second with nine winners.
