Nobel Prize for economics awarded to two U.S. economists

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Alvin E. Roth of Harvard University and Lloyd Shapley of UCLA have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday.

The economics prize is the sixth and final of the annual awards that spotlight the world's top scholars and peacemakers.

The economics award was not among the original prizes created in 1895 by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel to honor work in physics, medicine, chemistry, literature and peace. It was added as a category in 1969 by the Swedish central bank in memory of the industrialist.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/world/europe/sweden-nobel-economics/index.html

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8 replies	Author	Time	Post
Nobel Prize for economics awarded to two U.S. economists (Original post)	jsr	Oct 2012	OP
I can't figure why their game theory work is so important.	ancianita	Oct 2012	#1
It's actually used in matching algorithms - school choice, organ transplant, etc:	jsr	Oct 2012	#2
Stochastics	bucolic_frolic	Oct 2012	#6
There is no 'Nobel Prize for Economics'. n/t	PoliticAverse	Oct 2012	#3
+ Infinity!	Odin2005	Oct 2012	#4
Perfect assessment.	ronnie624	Oct 2012	#7
Amazing how they get away with this stuff. nt	bananas	Oct 2012	#5
A prize by neo-liberal bankers for neo-liberal economists	Lefty Thinker	Oct 2012	#8

Response to jsr (Original post)

Mon Oct 15, 2012, 07:40 AM

ancianita (1,053 posts)

1. I can't figure why their game theory work is so important.

Can anyone explain it to a layperson? Stochastic gaming sounds pretty ominous to me.

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Response to ancianita (Reply #1)

Mon Oct 15, 2012, 07:51 AM

jsr (3,530 posts)

2. It's actually used in matching algorithms - school choice, organ transplant, etc:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/15/nobel-economics-prize

It is commonly known as a solution to the stable marriage problem, and is an algorithm that can take a population of people and match them all to a suitable marriage candidate.

It involves a series of rounds – in the first, a man "proposes" to his ideal woman. The pair are then provisionally matched, with all other proposals rejected.

In the next round each remaining unpaired man proposes to his favoured woman (excluding the one he has already proposed to, regardless of whether she is already matched). Each woman then replies "maybe" to her favoured suitor – allowing her to swap to a more suitable/desirable partner.

The process continues until everyone is matched in a favourable relationship.

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Response to ancianita (Reply #1)

Mon Oct 15, 2012, 09:45 AM

bucolic_frolic (730 posts)

6. Stochastics

freewheeling here, a mathematical echo of reality that indicates short
term likely outcomes. In stocks it indicates short term direction.

Hey, told you it was off the top of my head.

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Response to jsr (Original post)

Mon Oct 15, 2012, 07:55 AM

PoliticAverse (5,551 posts)