Two American economists, William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for integrating climate change and technological innovation into macroeconomic analysis.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced their names in a statement on Monday, report Reuters and Independent.
“Their findings have significantly broadened the scope of economic analysis by constructing models that explain how the market economy interacts with nature and knowledge,” the academy said.
Nordhaus, 77, was cited by the committee as having "integrated climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis" and showed how carbon taxes were the most efficient remedy for the ecological harm from global industrial greenhouse gas emissions.
Romer, 62, was cited for his pioneering theoretical work on "endogenous growth theory", which emphasises the fundamental importance of innovation and human capital, rather than the size of the workforce and investment, in driving prosperity.
Worth 9 million Swedish crowns ($1 million), the economics prize was established in 1968.
It was not part of the original group of five awards set out in Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will.
Last year the prize went to US economist Richard Thaler, a co-founder of the so-called “nudge” theory, which shows how people can be persuaded to make decisions that leave them healthier and happier.
