It was the phone call of a lifetime for two economics professors at Stanford University, which came in the middle of the night.
“2:15 a.m., I think, there was a knock on my door. It was Bob that came by to tell me that the Swedish Academy was trying to reach me,” said economist Paul Milgrom. “I was very sleepy.”
He and his colleague Robert Wilson are neighbors and the knock at the door was Wilson, telling Milgrom that they had won the Nobel Prize in economics.
It took several tries for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to reach Wilson as well; he unplugged his home phone thinking it was a spam call, so they contacted his wife Mary instead.
But after several false starts, the pair were soon wide awake and sipping champagne.
They won the award for their advancements in complex auction theory and auction format, which has influenced competitive bidding strategies and pricing schemes for spare radio frequencies, airport landing slots and fishing quotas, among other things.
“It’s a day to celebrate, but it’s not really, I don’t do this for prizes. I do this to make things happen,” said Milgrom. “One of the great things about the Nobel Prize is it calls attention to the work and makes it possible for me hopefully to have more successful applications.”
Another possible benefit to the award? It ties the score with rival UC Berkeley, which last week had two professors win Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics.
Milgrom and Wilson will now share the $1.1 million cash prize.