---
title: "Nobel Economics Prize Goes to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford for Stabilization Models"
description: "The Stanford and Columbia professors will share 12 million Swedish kronor for work now used by central banks and governments worldwide."
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-12T12:35:08Z
modified: 2026-10-12T17:53:06Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/hall-and-woodford-win-economics-nobel-for-models-central-ban-6d71df
language: en
tags: ["nobel", "economics", "monetary-policy", "fiscal-policy", "central-banks", "business"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Nobel Economics Prize Goes to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford for Stabilization Models

*The Stanford and Columbia professors will share 12 million Swedish kronor for work now used by central banks and governments worldwide.*

By rews desk · October 12, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/hall-and-woodford-win-economics-nobel-for-models-central-ban-6d71df

## In brief

- Robert E. Hall of Stanford and Michael Woodford of Columbia won the 2026 Nobel economics prize on Monday
- The academy cited their microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization, models used by central banks worldwide
- The pair will share 12 million Swedish kronor, roughly $1.2 million
- Their work showed households and businesses are forward-looking, making policy communication a tool in itself
- The laureates will receive their prizes at ceremonies on Dec. 10

Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University [won the Nobel memorial prize in economics on Monday](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/12/nobel-economics-prize-awarded-to-robert-hall-and-michael-%E2%81%A0woodford) for building the models that governments and central banks now use to fight recessions and other economic shocks.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announcing the year’s final Nobel in Stockholm, said the two Americans were honored “for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.” On the basis of their models, the jury said, “well-timed fiscal and monetary policy measures can reduce the economy’s peaks and troughs,” [according to the citation](https://phys.org/news/2026-10-americans-hall-woodford-economics-nobel.html). The laureates will split 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, taking 6 million kronor ($598,000) each along with a diploma and a gold medal.

“The laureates’ work has provided us with a stable theoretical foundation for the models that are now used by central banks and governments around the world,” John Hassler, the chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said in a statement. “With them, we are better equipped to deal with shocks in the economy, such as energy crises or sudden changes in how much households consume.”

![A cream iron rests on a winding navy ribbon that rises into a sharp peak containing an orange droplet, against a teal background.](https://rews.cc/img/5fddef07751f59b62775d6746fe960b37c271456.webp)

Mr. Woodford, reached by phone in New York during the announcement, called the prize “a tremendous honor.” “It’s a surprise, but I’m feeling very good about it,” he said, adding that he was “elated.” His theories, he said, had not been “motivated by a specific political agenda.” “It was an attempt to improve the foundations for discussion of economic policy and therefore to contribute both to the management of the economy, but also to contribute to public understanding.”

For decades after the Depression, governments handled downturns by the prescription of the British economist John Maynard Keynes: cut taxes, raise spending and coax consumers and businesses into spending and investing again. “This is the Keynesian recipe and it worked well — until it didn’t,” Timo Boppart of the prize committee said. The old models implied tidy tradeoffs, low unemployment bought at the price of high inflation. The stagflation of the 1970s, when the oil shocks delivered both at once, broke them.

Working separately, Mr. Hall and Mr. Woodford rebuilt stabilization policy from the ground up. Rather than tracing statistical links among big variables like inflation, production and consumption, they started with individual households and businesses, and with the insight that people are forward-looking when they decide whether to spend or save, [CNN reported](https://cnn.com/2026/10/12/business/nobel-prize-economics-intl). That made the way governments and central banks talk about policy a tool in itself: what officials say about the future shapes what the public expects, and can move the economy before a single rate changes.

![A cream classical roof rests above four columns formed from stacked houses, shops, and factories in red, cream, and navy against a bright blue background.](https://rews.cc/img/e4b532f92739e001a29f3b140cad795bd4cd27ec.webp)

Mr. Hall, 83, was born in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1943. Mr. Woodford was born in Chicopee, Mass., in 1955.

The economics prize is the only Nobel not created in Alfred Nobel’s will. Sweden’s central bank established it in 1968, and it is awarded by the same academy and the same process as the physics and chemistry prizes. With Monday’s announcement, [101 people have now won it](https://cbsnews.com/news/nobel-prize-economics-2-americans/), only three of them women, most recently Claudia Goldin in 2023. The majority have been Americans, as the Reuters news agency noted. Last year’s award went to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt for research on how technology drives growth.

The award concludes this year’s Nobel season. The week’s earlier honors went to Navi Pillay of South Africa for peace, the Canadian-Icelandic writer Anne Carson for literature, Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for chemistry, Francis Halzen for physics, and Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for medicine. Mr. Hall and Mr. Woodford will receive their medals and diplomas at the formal ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.

## Sources

- [Nobel economics prize awarded to Robert Hall and Michael Woodford](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/12/nobel-economics-prize-awarded-to-robert-hall-and-michael-%E2%81%A0woodford) — aljazeera.com
- [Americans Hall and Woodford win economics Nobel for stabilization models](https://phys.org/news/2026-10-americans-hall-woodford-economics-nobel.html) — phys.org
- [Nobel economics prize goes to 2 Americans for work on managing economic shocks](https://cbsnews.com/news/nobel-prize-economics-2-americans/) — cbsnews.com
- [Two Americans win Nobel prize for models to tackle economic downturns](https://cnn.com/2026/10/12/business/nobel-prize-economics-intl) — cnn.com