Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago has won this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics for his studies that link psychology with the broader discipline.

The award, officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was given to Thaler for his work on “psychologically realistic assumptions into analyses of economic decision-making” and is worth Skr9 million  ($1.1 million).

“Richard Thaler’s contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. “His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioural economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy.”

Born in 1945, Thaler received his bachelor’s degree Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1967 and advanced degrees, including his PhD, from the University of Rochester in 1970 and 1974. He joined the University of Chicago’s Booth faculty in 1995.

Thaler is director of the Center for Decision Research and co-directs, along with fellow Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller, the Behavioral Economics Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

(Source: The Street)