NEWS

2012 Nobel Prize in Economics Announced

OCTOBER 15, 2012 by TSVETELIN M. TSONEVSKI

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced earlier this morning that the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2012 goes to Alfred E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley for their “outstanding example of economic engineering.” The two recipients focused their research on developing designing markets to match economic agents in order to achieve efficient outcome: pairing patient and donors, schools and students, etc. According to Alfred Roth efficient outcomes are achieved when markets are thick (there are enough potential transactions available at one time), uncongested (there is enough time for offers to be made, accepted, rejected) and safe (safe to act straightforwardly on relevant preferences).

FEE’s The Freeman offers timeless articles on the study of the market process. All of these articles, however, develop models without central command and offer the economic agents countless benefits from market transactions. Some of these articles include:

Free Market Planning:

Planning vs. The Free Market, Henry Hazlitt
Free Markets Are Regulated, Steven Horwitz

Market Benefits:

My Organs Are for Sale, Walter Williams
Ending the War on Kidneys, Sandord Ikeda
School Choice, Walter Williams
Can the Free Market Provide Public Education?, Sheldon Richman