Two American economists, Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson, have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in economic sciences for their work on auction theory and improving how auctions work, advances that have been deployed around the world to sell things like fishing quotas and airport landing slots.
The American economists were honored Monday for their work on auction theory and developing new auction formats, the Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Göran Hansson said.
“Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,” the prize committee said in a statement.
The Academy said that the auction theory developed by Milgrom and Wilson has helped design new auction formats around the world, and is used to sell such diverse things as radio spectrum, fishing quotas, airport landing slots and electricity allowances.
The economics Nobel is the last of the awards to be announced this year.
