The Royal Swedish Academy on Monday, October 8, 2018, decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2018 to William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer, for “integrating innovation and climate with economic growth.”
Dr. Nordhaus was the first person to create “an integrated assessment model, i.e. a quantitative model that describes the global interplay between the economy and the climate,” said a press release from the Academy.
Dr. Romer “laid the foundation of what is now called endogenous growth theory. The theory is both conceptual and practical, as it explains how ideas are different to other goods and require specific conditions to thrive in a market.”
Both Dr. Nordhaus and Dr. Romer are American. The Academy also stated that the contributions by the two economists provided us “with fundamental insights into the causes and consequences of technological innovation and climate change. This year’s Laureates do not deliver conclusive answers, but their findings have brought us considerably closer to answering the question of how we can achieve sustained and sustainable global economic growth.”
