Charles Duxbury and Mike Bird write for The Wall Street Journal that Prof. Bengt Holmström is one of the recipients of the 2016 Nobel Prize in economics. Holmström was honored, in part, for developing a model that examines “how pay should be linked to performance and how an optimal contract carefully weighs risks against incentives.”
Prof. Bengt Holmström received the Nobel Prize in economics for his research on contract theory, writes Chris Giles for the Financial Times. Holmström, who said he was “dazed … very surprised and very happy” about winning the award, found “an optimal contract should link payments to outcomes that reveal the performance of either party to a contract.”
Lisa Mullins of WBUR’s All Things Considered speaks with Prof. Bengt Holmström about winning the Nobel Prize in economics for his work examining how contracts motivate and affect people’s behavior. Holmström explains, “incentives are not just about paying people, it is also about job design.”
Prof. Bengt Holmström and Harvard Prof. Oliver Hart were awarded the Noel Prize in economics for their work on how to design better contracts, Deirdre Fernandes and Hiawatha Bray report for The Boston Globe. “Bengt and Oliver’s research has not only helped us to better understand incentives and institutions, it has helped us design better ones,” explains Prof. James Poterba.
Jeff Guo writes for The Washington Post about Prof. Bengt Holmström, one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in economics. “It’s just such a richly deserved prize,” said Glenn Ellison, head of MIT’s economics department. “Bengt’s work is outstanding both for answering really important questions, and for how beautifully crafted it is mathematically.”
Associated Press reporter Karl Ritter writes that Prof. Bengt Holmström has been honored with the Nobel Prize in economics. ‘‘I certainly did not expect it, at least at this time, so I was very surprised and very happy, of course,’’ Holmström said.
Prof. Bengt Holmström won the Nobel Economics Prize for his work on contract theory, Daniel Dickson and Ross Kerber report for Reuters. "This theory has really been incredibly important, not just for economics, but also for other social sciences," said Prof. Per Stromberg, a member of the prize committee.
A paper co-authored by Prof. Amy Finkelstein finds that “pet health care in the United States has exhibited growth, accessibility, and end-of-life spending patterns that almost directly mirror patterns in the American human health-care system,” writes Vann R. Newkirk II for The Atlantic.
“Poor Economics” by Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo is included in a CNBC list compiled by Marguerite Ward of 20 books that will “make you look smart.” The book examines how “developed nations and their citizens can provide aid that would actively improve poor societies,” explains Ward.
Prof. Thomas Levenson writes for The Atlantic about the response to author Andrea Wulf winning the Royal Society Insight Investment Book Prize. “Discounting a great work at the moment it earns one of science writing’s highest honors based on the gender of its creator is just one more barrier women science writers have to deal with that men don’t.”
A paper co-authored by Prof. Amy Finkelstein compares human and pet health care costs, reports Aimee Picchi for CBS News. The study found that, “spending on human medical care was 50 percent higher in 2012 than in 1996, while spending on pet health care jumped 60 percent,” writes Picchi.
A study by Prof. David Autor finds a shift in voting patterns in areas of the country impacted by trade with China, report Binyamin Appelbaum, Patricia Cohen and Jack Healy for The New York Times. “This undercurrent of economically driven dissatisfaction,” Autor explains, “works to the benefit of candidates who are noncentrist, and particularly right-wing candidates.”
Prof. Rosalind Williams reviews James Gleick’s new book about the history of time travel for The Washington Post. Prof. Williams writes that Gleick “gathers an engaging cast of characters who wrote these stories or otherwise explored the possibilities of time travel.”
A Washington Post article by graduate student Nina McMurry explores the effectiveness of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. “Research cautions that it’s unrealistic to expect outside military forces to prevent violence when those involved haven’t agreed to stop fighting or — more important — haven’t agreed on how to resolve the political differences that prompted violence in the first place,” McMurry writes.
MIT has been named the top university in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings, reports Nick Morrison for Forbes. This is the fifth consecutive year that MIT has earned the number one spot in the QS rankings.