Myerson, Roger Bruce

Myerson, Roger Bruce, 1951–, American economist, b. Boston, Mass., Ph.D. Harvard, 1976. He has taught at Northwestern Univ. (1976–2001) and the Univ. of Chicago (2001–). With Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin, Myerson was awarded the 2006 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. Myerson and Maskin extended Hurwicz's work on mechanism design theory, a branch of game theory (see games, theory of) that examines what rules provide the incentives that produce the most desirable result, enabling social scientists to explain how individuals, institutions, and markets interact. Myerson also has worked on the economic analysis of political institutions and contributed to the understanding of the process of democratization.

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