Warwick alumnus wins Nobel prize in Economics

Professor Oliver Hart, a British-born American economist and Warwick graduate, has received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Hart, along with Bengt Holmstrom, have won the Nobel Prize, worth eight million Swedish Krona, for their contributions to contract theory in Economics.

The professor was an honorary graduate at Warwick in 2012 and is an expert on the theory of the firm, corporate finance and incomplete contracts.

The London-born economist said that he “woke at about 4:40 and was wondering whether it was getting too late for it to be this year, but then fortunately the phone rang.”

The award-giving body said that “their work lays an intellectual foundation for designing policies and institutions in many areas, from bankruptcy legislation to political constitutions.”

Hart is the first Warwick alumnus to win a Nobel Prize, and hopefully the first of many.