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The Nobel Prize was established by the will of Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), the Swedish chemist who invented dynamite, to recognize humanitarian endeavors in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. A prize in economics was introduced in 1969 after the Bank of Sweden donated funds for its monetary awards. In 1992 the economic prize carried a cash award of approximately $1.5 million.

Nominations for the prize are solicited by invitation only, with more than a thousand invitations per prize category, and require a written statement in support of the nomination. Committees then evaluate the nominees and make their recommendations to the appropriate prize-awarding organization. All the selection work for the Nobel Prize is conducted in secrecy. The prize in economics is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. To date, thirty-two Americans have been honored with the prize.

The following individuals have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics:

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is among the most prestigious groups of applied economists in the United States. Formed after World War II, the CEA advises the U.S. president on economic policy. Presidents tend to appoint the three members, including the chairman, from their own party; but the advice given is relatively nonpartisan. Below the chairman and the two members are approximately fifteen senior and junior economists who are appointed for their expertise in policy economics. On macroeconomics, the big difference between Democrat-appointed chairmen and members and Republican-appointed chairmen and members has been on the potency of monetary and fiscal policies. Although more and more economists, Republicans and Democrats alike, have over the last few decades come to believe that monetary policy is more potent than fiscal policy, Democrat-appointed chairmen and members have put more weight on fiscal policy than Republican-appointed chairmen and members. On many microeconomic issues, CEA economists at all levels and in Republican and Democrat councils agree. They favor free trade and free markets and tend to oppose price controls and regulation, although President Bill Clinton’s first council chairman, Laura Tyson, was a notable exception on free trade.

Council chairmen and their dates of employment (with the president under whom they worked in parentheses) are listed below.

The American Economic Association (AEA) is the largest organization of professional economists in the world. It was organized at Saratoga, New York, on September 9, 1885. The title of president of the AEA is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on an Economist. The following are the past presidents of the AEA and their years of service (with their university or institute affiliations in parentheses).