Robert E Hall, Michael Woodford awarded Nobel Prize in Economics
What's the story
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2026 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Robert E Hall and Michael Woodford "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization." They developed new macroeconomic models that have significantly improved "our ability to implement effective stabilization policy."
Academy
What of Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences said
On the basis of these models, well-timed fiscal and monetary policy measures can reduce the economy's peaks and troughs, the academy said.
"The laureates' work has provided us with...stable theoretical foundation for the models that are now used by central banks and governments around the world. With them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy," John Hassler, committee chair, said.
Twitter Post
Their research generated paradigm shift in stabilization policy
Robert E. Hall’s and Michael Woodford’s research has generated a paradigm shift in stabilisation policy. New Keynesian models, a result of their research, allow us to explain and quantify how stabilisation policy affects business cycles and are now used by central banks and…
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 12, 2026
Profile
Both are professors
Born in 1943 in Palo Alto, California, Hall earned his PhD in 1967 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
He is a professor at Stanford University, CA, USA.
Michael Woodford also earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. He is a professor at Columbia University.
They will receive the prize amount of 12 million Swedish kronor.
Prize
This prize was not instituted by Alfred Nobel
The Nobel economics prize is officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences.
Unlike the other Nobel prizes, this prize was not instituted by Alfred Nobel.
The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish industrialist and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel prizes.