Hall, Woodford win Nobel prize for work on how to stabilise economies
SPY•US academics Robert Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 Nobel economics prize for work developing models used by central banks and finance ministries to stabilise economies. The prize is worth 12 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).
1. Prize recognizes economic models
Robert Hall and Michael Woodford won the 2026 Nobel economics prize for decades of work developing models used by central banks and finance ministries. The committee said their work leaves the world better equipped to deal with economic shocks, including energy crises and sudden changes in household consumption.
2. Ideas used in policy
Their work emphasizes accounting for decisions by households and businesses and underpins concepts including forward guidance, sticky inflation and the output gap. Woodford said forward guidance helped bolster monetary policy after 2009, when interest rates could not be cut much further immediately. Hall called the prize “a wonderful surprise.”
