News Release 16-122
2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
NSF director congratulates this year's laureates, both of whom have received NSF support
Oliver Hart (left) and Bengt Holmström (right) are the 2016 Prize in Economic Sciences laureates.
October 11, 2016
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Statement from National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France Córdova regarding the news that Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström have been awarded the 2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics. NSF has provided support to both economists, with awards including eight grants funding Hart's work and two funding Holmström's over several decades. NSF has the only program in the federal government with a broad mandate to strengthen basic economic science and has supported 54 economists who received this prize since it was first awarded in 1969.
"The groundbreaking work by Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström in contract theory has created new tools to help society understand how contracts determine real-world results in fields ranging from bankruptcy law to health insurance, to manufacturing.
"As the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences noted, these two laureates launched contract theory as a field of basic research. NSF is proud to have supported the work they did laying that foundation with nearly a dozen awards funding Holmström's studies of dynamic models of contracting and firm organization, and supporting Hart's decades of research into incomplete contracts -- an important new way to look at ownership and control of businesses.
"These economists demonstrate how fundamental theoretical research can have important practical impact on the conduct and function of the business enterprise."
-NSF-
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