1st LD: U.S. Trio Win Nobel Prize in Economics

Oct 19, 03:10 PM

Current Headlines: 1st LD: U.S. trio win Nobel Prize in economics

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson on Monday shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in economics for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory.

The three economists picked up the prize for their work that helps find the optimal mechanism to reach certain goals such as social welfare or private profit.

"Mechanism design theory initiated by Leonid Hurwicz and further developed by Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson has greatly enhanced our understanding of optimal allocation mechanisms in such situations, accounting for individuals' incentives and private information," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

"Today, mechanism design theory plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science," it said.

The economics prize is the last prize handed out this year and not part of the original crop of Nobel Prizes set out in Alfred Nobel's 1895 will. It was established in 1968 and is officially called The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The annual Nobel Prizes are usually announced in October and are handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite.

The prizes have been awarded since 1901. Each prize consists ofa medal, a personal diploma and a cash award of 10 million Swedishkronor(1.53 million U.S. dollars).

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