2 Stanford Economists Win Nobel Prize for Auction Theory

Peter Fredriksson, Chairman of the Committee for Economic Sciences, left, Goran K. Hansson, Permanent Secretary for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, center, and Tommy Andersson, member in The Prize Committee for the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences announce the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2020 at a press conference in Stockholm on Oct. 12, 2020. Anders Wiklund/TT via AP

STOCKHOLM—Two American economists won the Nobel Prize on Monday for improving the theory of how auctions work and inventing new and better auction formats that are now woven into many parts of the economy, including one that revolutionized the telecoms industry.

The discoveries of Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,” the Nobel Committee said, noting that the auction formats developed by the winners have been used to sell radio frequencies, electricity, fishing quotas and airport landing slots.