Finn wins Nobel Prize in Economics
The Finnish economist Bengt Holmström was awarded the prize jointly with his American colleague Oliver Hart. Holmström is the fifth Finn to win a Nobel Prize.
The 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Finland’s Bengt Holmström and Oliver Hart, from the USA, “for their contributions to contract theory”. As stated by the Nobel Committee, Holmström and Hart have created new theoretical tools to help understand different types of contractual arrangements found in the real world.
“Modern economies are held together by innumerable contracts. The new theoretical tools created by Hart and Holmström are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design”, reads the press release from the Committee.
The award was announced on Monday at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Bengt Holmström, who is 67, was born in Helsinki. He has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1994. Prior to that, he was a professor at Yale University.
The Nobel Prize in Economics is financed by the Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, and has been awarded since 1968. The monetary portion of the prize amounts to SEK 8 million (approximately EUR 828,000).
It is common for the prize to be awarded to two or three economists. Last year, however, it was awarded solely to the Scottish–American economist Sir Angus Deaton “for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare”.
Holmström is the fifth Finn to win a Nobel Prize. In 2008, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Finland’s other Nobel laureates are the writer Frans Eemil Sillanpää, the chemist Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, and the physiologist Ragnar Granit.
Four of the other five Nobel Prizes were awarded last week. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos.
The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday.
Source: http://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/novosti (Russian)
