William Vickrey
William Vickrey received the 1996 prize in Economic Sciences. This profile brings together the official award record and attributed background on the economist’s work and career.
Personal and professional profile
- Name
- William Vickrey [1]
- Full name
- William Vickrey [2]
- Birth date
- 1914-06-21 [2]
- Birthplace
- Victoria, BC, Canada [2]
- Education
- Yale University; Phillips Academy; Yale College; Columbia University [3]
- Fields / occupation
- university teacher; economist; researcher [3]
- Prize
- Economic Sciences · 1996 [2]
- Research recognized
- for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information [2]
- Prize share
- 1/2 [2]
- Affiliation at the award
- Columbia University [2]
- Death date
- 1996-10-11 [2]
- Institutions in career record
- Columbia University [3]
Research, education and career background
William Spencer Vickrey (; 21 June 1914 – 11 October 1996) was a Canadian-American economist. He was a lifelong faculty member at Columbia University. A theorist who worked on public economics and mechanism design, Vickrey primarily discussed public policy problems. He originated the Vickrey auction, introduced the concept of congestion pricing in networks, formalized arguments for marginal cost pricing, and contributed to optimal income taxation. James Tobin described him as "an applied economist's theorist, as well as a theorist's applied economist." [4]
Vickrey was awarded the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with James Mirrlees for their research into the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information. Vickrey never personally received the Prize; it was announced just three days prior to his death. [4]
Selected introductory text by Wikipedia contributors — William Vickrey, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Official facts are cited separately.
Award and academic affiliation
The official Nobel record dates the Economic Sciences award to 1996 and lists Columbia University as the affiliation at the time. [2]
An affiliation attached to an award describes that point in the person’s career; it does not establish a current appointment. [2]
Education and career timeline
Source-supported connections
Frequently asked questions
When did William Vickrey receive the prize in Economic Sciences?
The official award record gives the year as 1996. [2]
Which institution was William Vickrey affiliated with at the time of the Economic Sciences award?
Columbia University. This is the award-time affiliation. [2]
William Vickrey connection map
Select a node to inspect the relationship and source.
Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.
Sources and review dates
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Wikidata background facts (CC0) ↗
- Wikipedia contributors — William Vickrey (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗
Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.