Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford have received the 2026 prize in economic sciences, according to an October 12 announcement from the American Economic Association. The association identifies their contribution as research into the microeconomic foundations of business cycles.

Hall is associated with Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. Woodford is the John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University. Their work concerns the relationship between decisions made by individual participants in an economy and changes visible across the economy as a whole.

The award recognizes research rather than endorsing a particular current policy. Readers should distinguish a scholarly contribution from a forecast of the next recession, interest-rate decision or market movement. The announcement does not establish any of those outcomes.

For students and policymakers, the subject connects individual economic behavior with fluctuations in output and activity. Further examination of the laureates’ published work can explain the models in greater detail; the award notice alone is not a substitute for that evidence.