Chicago, Athens, and Jerusalem

Congratulations to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin, and Roger B. Myerson, this year’s recipients of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The three men share the prize for their development of mechanism design theory.

Myerson is the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Chicago Department of Economics. He is one of the most cited theoretical microeconomists of his generation, and it is impossible to research the subfields of game theory, auction theory, social choice, or mechanism design without tripping over what seems like scores of important articles and results written by Myerson.

The University of Chicago community is very happy for Professor Myerson, and will probably hold a celebration honoring him in the near future. Myerson becomes the sixth and youngest (at 56 years old) Economics Nobel winner on the faculty of the University of Chicago, joining James Heckman, Robert Lucas, Robert Fogel, Gary Becker, and Ronald Coase.

Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, a video containing the prize announcement and an explanation is available here.

UPDATE: A reception in Myerson’s honor was held on Wednesday, October 24.