He is the first solo winner of the economics prize since 1995. The Nobel Prize for Economics was only established in 1968, unlike the others which were founded in 1901. The prize is sponsored by the Bank of Sweden. A cloud of uncertainty has always hung over the Nobel Prize for Economics as it was the only one not specified in Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel's will. Last year's economics prize was awarded to two US Professor, Robert Merton of Harvard University and Myron Scholes, who in the early 1970s developed a model for pricing derivatives.
Derivatives are securities linked to or derived from an underlying asset such as loans or shares.
The prize is the fifth out of six to be announced this week in Stockholm - the winner of the peace prize will be revealed on Friday. The prizes will be presented on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.