The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2018 Noble Prize in Economic Sciences to William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer for their work on understanding how economies can grow sustainably.
Nordhaus, a professor at Yale University, is best known for his work on climate economics. Romer, of NYU’s Stern School of Business, is a proponent of a theory that examines how the world can achieve sustainable growth.
“This year’s Laureates have designed methods for addressing some of our time’s most basic and pressing questions about how we create long-term sustained and sustainable economic growth,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
Nordhaus developed an influential model that examines the consequences of climate policy interventions, including carbon taxes, on the global economy.
A former chief economist at the World Bank, Romer has shown that economic forces govern the willingness of companies to innovate. The concept is the foundation of what is now called “endogenous growth theory,” which states that new ideas and technology help drive economic activity.