What the Nobel Economics Prize Honors Ahead of Oct. 12 Announcement

The 2026 Nobel season ends Monday, Oct. 12, with the announcement of the prize in economic sciences, scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Central European time at the earliest, according to the Nobel Foundation’s official schedule.

Its full name is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. It was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank to mark its 300th anniversary and is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, according to the Nobel Prize organization.

That makes it the youngest of the Nobel awards and the only one not established in Alfred Nobel’s will. Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, specified prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace in his 1895 will. The economics prize follows the same selection principles and carries the same prestige, money and ceremony.

Each full prize in 2026 is worth 12 million Swedish kronor, after a 1 million kronor increase announced by the Nobel Foundation to mark the 125th anniversary of the awards, according to Nordisk Post. Laureates receive their medals and diplomas at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

The economics announcement closes a week that began Oct. 5 with the medicine prize and included physics, chemistry and literature honors in Stockholm, followed by the peace prize on Oct. 9, announced in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The prize honors outstanding contributions to economic sciences, as determined by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Like the other prizes, it can be shared by up to three laureates, with the prize money divided among them.

As with every category, no shortlists or confirmed frontrunners exist in the public record. The names of those considered are kept secret for 50 years under Nobel rules, so Monday’s announcement will be the first authoritative word on who takes the prize.