The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, is an award in the field of Economic Sciences administered by the Nobel Foundation.

The first Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen. Each recipient receives a medal, a diploma and a monetary award that has varied throughout the years. In 1969, Frisch and Tinbergen were given a combined 375,000 SEK, which is equivalent to 2,871,041 SEK in December 2007. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

As of the awarding of the 2023 prize, 55 Prizes in Economic Sciences have been given to 93 individuals. As of October 2023, the department of economics with the most affiliated laureates in economic sciences is the University of Chicago, with 16 affiliated laureates. As of 2023, the institutions with the most PhD (or equivalent) graduates who went on to receive the prize are Harvard University and MIT (13 each), followed by the University of Chicago (10). As of 2024, the institutions with the most affiliated faculty at the time of the award are the University of Chicago (15), followed by MIT (10), then by Princeton University and Harvard University (8 each).

Laureates

YearPortraitLaureate(birth/death)Country RationaleHighest educationInstitution (most significant tenure/at time of receipt)Key contributions (non-exhaustive) 1969 Ragnar Frisch(1895–1973)           "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes" University of Oslo (Dr. Philos., mathematical statistics) University of Oslo Frisch–Waugh–Lovell theorem, Conjectural variation Jan Tinbergen(1903–1994) Leiden University (PhD, economics and physics) Erasmus University Econometrics, Policy instruments 1970 Paul Samuelson(1915–2009) "for the scientific work through which he has developed static and dynamic economic theory and actively contributed to raising the level of analysis in economic science" Harvard University (PhD, economics) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Revealed preference, Samuelson condition, Social Welfare Function, Efficient-market hypothesis, Turnpike theory, Balassa–Samuelson effect, Stolper–Samuelson theorem, Overlapping generations model 1971  Simon Kuznets(1901–1985) "for his empirically founded interpretation of economic growth which has led to new and deepened insight into the economic and social structure and process of development" Columbia University (PhD, economics) Harvard University Gross domestic product, Capital formation, Kuznets cycle, Kuznets curve 1972 John Hicks(1904–1989) "for their pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory" University of Oxford (BA, philosophy, politics, and economics) University of Oxford IS–LM model, Hicksian demand function, substitution effect, income effect, Kaldor–Hicks efficiency Kenneth Arrow(1921–2017) Columbia University (PhD, economics) Harvard University Fundamental theorems of welfare economics, Arrow's impossibility theorem, Arrow–Debreu model, Endogenous growth theory, 1973  Wassily Leontief(1905–1999) Soviet Union "for the development of the input-output method and for its application to important economic problems" University of Berlin (PhD, economics) Harvard University Input–output model, Leontief paradox  1974 Gunnar Myrdal(1898–1987) "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena" Stockholm University (PhD, economics) Stockholm University Circular cumulative causationFriedrich Hayek(1899–1992) University of Vienna (Dr. Jur.; Dr. rer. pol.) Austrian business cycle theory, Economic calculation problem, Spontaneous order, Information economics 1975 Leonid Kantorovich(1912–1986) Soviet Union "for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources" Leningrad State University (PhD, mathematics) Novosibirsk State University Linear programming, Kantorovich theorem, Kantorovich inequality, Kantorovich metric Tjalling Koopmans(1910–1985) University of Leiden (PhD, mathematics) Linear programming Transport economics Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans model Koopmans' theorem 1976 Milton Friedman(1912–2006) "for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilisation policy" Columbia University (PhD, economics) University of Chicago Monetarism, Permanent income hypothesis, Natural rate of unemployment, Sequential analysis, Helicopter money, Great Contraction, Friedman rule, Friedman–Savage utility function, Friedman test 1977 Bertil Ohlin(1899–1979) "for their pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements" Stockholm University (PhD, economics) Stockholm School of Economics Heckscher–Ohlin model James Meade(1907–1995) University of Oxford (BA, PPE) University of Cambridge Nominal income target 1978 Herbert A. Simon(1916–2001) "for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations" University of Chicago (PhD, political science) Carnegie Mellon University Bounded rationality, satisficing, preferential attachment  1979 Theodore Schultz(1902–1998) "for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries" University of Wisconsin–Madison (PhD, agricultural economics) University of Chicago Human Capital Theory W. Arthur Lewis(1915–1991) London School of Economics (PhD, economics) Princeton University Lewis model, Lewis turning point 1980 Lawrence Klein(1920–2013) "for the creation of econometric models and the application to the analysis of economic fluctuations and economic policies" Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD, economics) University of Pennsylvania Macroeconomic forecasting (LINK project) 1981 James Tobin(1918–2002) "for his analysis of financial markets and their relations to expenditure decisions, employment, production and prices" Harvard University (PhD, economics) Yale University Tobin tax, Tobit model, Tobin's q, Baumol–Tobin model 1982George Stigler(1911–1991) "for his seminal studies of industrial structures, functioning of markets and causes and effects of public regulation" University of Chicago (PhD, economics) University of Chicago Regulatory capture 1983 Gérard Debreu(1921–2004) "for having incorporated new analytical methods into economic theory and for his rigorous reformulation of the theory of general equilibrium" University of Paris (PhD, economics) University of California, Berkeley Arrow–Debreu model, Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu theorem 1984Richard Stone(1913–1991) "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis" University of Cambridge (BA, law and economics; ScD, economics) University of CambridgeNational accounts 1985 Franco Modigliani(1918–2003) "for his pioneering analyses of saving and of financial markets" The New School for Social Research (PhD, economics) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Modigliani–Miller theorem, Life-cycle hypothesis 1986 James M. Buchanan(1919–2013) "for his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision-making" University of Chicago (PhD, economics) George Mason University Constitutional economics 1987 Robert Solow(1924–2023) "for his contributions to the theory of economic growth" Harvard University (PhD, economics) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Solow–Swan model 1988 Maurice Allais(1911–2010) "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources" University of Paris, Faculty of Science (Doctor-Engineer) OLG model, Allais paradox, Golden Rule savings rate 1989 Trygve Haavelmo(1911–1999) "for his clarification of the probability theory foundations of econometrics and his analyses of simultaneous economic structures" University of Oslo (PhD, economics) University of Oslo Balanced budget multiplier 1990 Harry Markowitz(1927–2023) "for their pioneering work in the theory of financial economics" University of Chicago (PhD, economics) City University of New York Modern portfolio theory, Markowitz model, Efficient frontierMerton Miller(1923–2000) Johns Hopkins University (PhD, economics) Modigliani–Miller theorem William F. Sharpe(1934–) University of California, Los Angeles (PhD, economics) Stanford University Sharpe Ratio, Binomial options pricing model, Returns-based style analysis 1991 Ronald Coase(1910–2013) "for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy" London School of Economics (PhD, economics) Transaction costs, Coase theorem, Coase conjecture 1992 Gary Becker(1930–2014) "for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including non-market behaviour" University of Chicago (PhD, economics) University of Chicago Human Capital Theory 1993 Robert Fogel(1926–2013) "for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change" Johns Hopkins University (PhD, economics) University of ChicagoCliometrics Douglass North(1920–2015) University of California, Berkeley (PhD, economics) Washington University in St. Louis  1994 John Harsanyi(1920–2000) "for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games" University of Budapest (PhD, philosophy and sociology)