American economists Hall, Woodford win 2026 Nobel prize

American economists Robert Hall and Michael Woodford have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Economics.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced them on Monday, October 12, for their work on the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.

The pair developed models that help central banks and governments use fiscal and monetary policy to reduce economic fluctuations and manage shocks.

The Academy said their key insight was that effective stabilisation must consider forward-looking decisions by households and businesses, rather than just macro variables like inflation and production.

Hall, 83, is a professor at Stanford University, while Woodford, 70, teaches at Columbia University. They will share the prize of 12 million Swedish crowns, about $1.2 million.

The economics prize, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, is the last of this year’s Nobel prizes.