Nobel Economics Prize winner revealed

Published: 13 Oct 2014 13:00 GMT+02:00
Updated: 13 Oct 2014 13:00 GMT+02:00

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Jean Tirole "for his analysis of market power and regulation".

The announcement was made at Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

"Jean Tirole is one of the most influential economists of our time," the committee reasoned in a statement.

"He has made important theoretical research contributions in a number of areas, but most of all he has clarified how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful firms."

Tirole is a French citizen, who was born in 1953 in Troyes, France.

He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the US and now works as the Scientific Director at Institut d’Économie Industrielle at the Toulouse School of Economics in France.

On the phone from France, Tirole said he was honoured to receive the award.

"Thank you, I am so moved," he said.

He will take home 8 million kronor ($1.1 million).

The Local's Editor Maddy Savage is on the scene, read our live blog here.

Unlike the other prizes, the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences wasn't requested in Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel's will. It was launched by Sweden's Riksbank (central bank) in the 1960s, but it follows the same principle as the other prizes, with winners deemed to have produced research or made discoveries that have benefited mankind.

This prize has now been awarded 46 times to 74 Laureates between 1969 and 2014.

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Oliver Gee (oliver.gee@thelocal.se)

http://www.thelocal.se/20141013/swedens-nobel-economics-prize-winner-revealed