Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences: The Nobel Prize Organisation has announced the recipients for 2024, with a total of eight laureate and one organisation being awarded this year. One of the world's most prestigious awards, the Nobel Prize was established after Swedish inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel left a fortune in his 1895 will to fund prizes that would honour outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine (or physiology), literature, and peace. The first set of awards was presented in 1901, setting in motion a legacy that highlights groundbreaking achievements across disciplines.
In 1969, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was started. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has since awarded the Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel established by Sweden’s central bank Sveriges Riksbank. It honours exceptional research that has deepened understanding in various economic fields.
Is Economic Sciences A Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially known as 'The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel', was established in 1968 in honour of the 300th anniversary of Sveriges Riksbank. The award, which acknowledges significant contributions to economics, is often thought of alongside the original Nobel Prizes in categories, but it is not technically one of the Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel’s will, which specified only five categories — physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature, and peace.
Nobel's last will, written in 1895, left funds for awards to be given in the five disciplines that he felt contributed directly to human welfare, which at the time did not include economics. The idea for an economics prize came from the central bank of Sweden.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which also selects laureates for the Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, oversees the nomination and selection of the economic sciences prize.
The first recipients of the economic sciences prize were Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen, jointly awarded in 1969.
The Nobel Prize website specifically mentions that the economic sciences is not a Nobel Prize. It, however, adds that the prize follows the same principles for the Nobel Prizes awarded since 1901.
While the Nobel Foundation, which handles the fund that rewards the recipients of the original Nobel Prizes, manages the economic sciences prize i parallel, but the funding for it comes from Sveriges Riksbank, which provides an endowment equivalent to those supporting the original Nobel categories.
Laureates in economic sciences receive the same prize amount and are awarded their honour during the same December ceremony as other Nobel laureates, held in Stockholm on December 10, the Alfred Nobel's death anniversary.
The per full prize amount for 2024 has been set at 11 million Swedish kronor.
Riksbank Prize In Economic Sciences In Memory Of Alfred Nobel
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Riksbank Prize In Economic Sciences In Memory Of Alfred Nobel every year since 1969, with 55 prizes having been awarded between 1969 and 2023. While 26 of these prizes have been given to one laureate only, as many as 20 have been shared by two recipients, and nine between three laureates.
There have been a total of 93 economic sciences laureates since 1969.
All individuals awarded a Nobel Prize, including those in economic sciences, are called laureates. 'Laureate'' means being signified by the laurel wreath — were given to victors as a sign of honour In ancient Greece. God Apollo in Greek mythology wears a laurel wreath — a circular crown made of bay laurel branches and leaves — on His head.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will announce the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2025 on Monday, October 14.
In 2024, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun in Medicine for discovering microRNA; John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton in Physics for innovations foundational to artificial neural networks, which have become pivotal in modern machine learning and artificial intelligence; David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper in Chemistry for their work in protein structure prediction; and South Korean author Han Kang in Literature for her evocative prose that confronts historical traumas and human fragility.
The Nobel Peace price has been announced for Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation representing atomic bomb survivors, for its advocacy toward a nuclear-free world.
ALSO READ ON ABP LIVE | Nobel Peace Prize 2024 Goes To Japanese Atom Bomb Survivors' Group
Last 10 Winners Of Nobel Memorial Prize In Economic Sciences
- 2023: Claudia Goldin “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”
- 2022: Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises”
- 2021: David Card “for his empirical contributions to labour economics”; Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships”
- 2020: Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”
- 2019: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”
- 2018: William D. Nordhaus “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis”; and Paul M. Romer “for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis”
- 2017: Richard H. Thaler “for his contributions to behavioural economics"
- 2016: Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström “for their contributions to contract theory”
- 2015: Angus Deaton “for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare”
- 2014: Jean Tirole “for his analysis of market power and regulation”