Economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson Awarded 2020 Nobel
Robert Wilson, left, and Paul Milgrom | Photo by Andrew Brodhead
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the pair for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.
In 2020, Stanford added another two Nobel laureates to its roster when Stanford economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Milgrom and Wilson the $10 million Swedish kronor prize (about $1 million USD) for their groundbreaking contributions to auction design.
“They have also used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies,” said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in a statement announcing the award. “Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world.”
Wilson and Milgrom are internationally known for their research and teaching on auction market design, pricing, and negotiations. Together and individually, the pair have played an important role in auction designs and competitive bidding strategies for the communications, oil and power industries, and in the design of innovative pricing schemes.
In fact, the two economists are credited with shaping the entire modern telecommunications industry, which arose from an auction format they developed for the 1994 radio spectrum auctions by the Federal Communications Commission. Auctions using their design have been used worldwide to allocate licenses worth more than $100 billion.
With their 2020 prize, Milgrom and Wilson became the 18th and 19th living Nobel laureates among Stanford’s community of scholars. Wilson, the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus, was the fourth Stanford GSB faculty member to win the Nobel, and has been on the faculty since 1964. Milgrom, who is the Shirley and Leonard Ely professor of Humanities and Sciences in the department of economics and professor by courtesy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, has been at Stanford since 1987.
Read the full, original story to learn more about the Nobel prize awarded to Milgrom and Wilson.
