Economics 2026 · Announced Oct 12
Michael Woodford
The economist whose models sit behind central bank rate decisions.
Born 1955 · United States · Columbia University
48 yrs
The wait, from Hall's spending paper (1978) to the prize
1955
Year born
2
People sharing this prize
Oct 12
Announced in 2026
Their part in the prize
Woodford's book Interest and Prices built a full model of how interest rates, expectations and prices move together. It became a standard reference for how central banks talk and act.
Why it matters
When a central bank raises or cuts rates to fight inflation or a slump, it is leaning on this kind of thinking.
The road to the prize
- 1978Hall publishes his paper on how forward-looking people spend.
- 2003Woodford publishes Interest and Prices, a guide for central banks.
- 2026Prize in Economic Sciences.
Shared with
The official reason for both: "for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation"