2000 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

The 2000 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden. The prize was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on 11 October 2000.

The citation

Half of the prize goes to James J. Heckman "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples". Half of the prize goes to Daniel L. McFadden "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing discrete choice".

The laureates

James J. Heckman was born in 1944 in Chicago, the United States, and is affiliated with the University of Chicago, Chicago. Daniel L. McFadden was born in 1937 in Raleigh, the United States, and is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley.

Why it matters

Heckman's methods correct for the bias that arises when researchers study only part of a population, while McFadden's work explains how people choose between alternatives such as modes of transport. Both are now standard tools in economics.

The prize

The prize is worth 9 million Swedish kronor, divided between the laureates. It will be presented at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895. Strictly, this award is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. It was established by the Swedish central bank in 1968, but is presented alongside the Nobel Prizes.