Around this time last year the Press could not have been more excited. Why? Two of the three 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences awards went to PUP authors Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller, authors of Robustness and Irrational Exuberance, respectively. To see just how excited we were, click here, here, or here. Amazingly enough, there was no shortage of excitement at the Press following this year’s announcement of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences award as Jean Tirole, author of Financial Crises, Liquidity, and the International Monetary System, The Theory of Corporate Finance, and co-author of Balancing the Banks: Global Lessons from the Financial Crisis, is the sole recipient.
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“If we had more researchers like Jean Tirole it would be a very good thing for the world.” |
The official Nobel Prize press release states Jean Tirole, head of economics at Toulouse University in France, won The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2014, “for his analysis of market power and regulation,” but this is just a fraction of the contribution he has made to economic theory and its real world implications. In an interview (which can be seen below) Chairman of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Tore Ellingsen, praised Tirole for his tireless efforts to better understand and explain how governments could regulate industries dominated by monopolies. When asked if it was difficult to choose a winner for the award this year, Ellingsen explained, “Yes and no. It’s been clear for some time now that Jean Tirole is a worthy recipient, but the question has been for what, alone or with whom, and when?” The interview concludes with wishful thinking; “If we had more researches like Jean Tirole it would be a very good thing for the world.”
Tirole has been an active member and contributor to economic theory since the 1980′s, and although “his work is largely theoretical…it has translated easily to practical use.” As a New York Times article further notes, “[Tirole's] work is also wide ranging. A description of his influence published by the prize committee cited more than 60 papers, an unusually large number.”
Peter J. Dougherty, Director of Princeton University Press had the following to say about Tirole’s impact on the field of economics and his much deserved recognition. “Jean Tirole’s 2006 book, The Theory of Corporate Finance, marked an important moment in economics as well as in the history of Princeton’s economics list. We extend our most heartfelt congratulations to Professor Tirole on the occasion of his Nobel prize.”
Again, on behalf of all of us at PUP, we would like to congratulate and thank Jean Tirole for keeping the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences award in house. And who knows, maybe next year we’ll be posting about a three-peat… fingers crossed!
