Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Roth and Shapley for matching algorithm work

Their work has nothing to do with central planning in the sense of committee deciding on production quotas---it's actually about how to allocate indivisible resources (school positions, kidneys, residency slots etc.) in situations where using money isn't feasible and/or the market has broken down due to problems like congestion or lack of market thickness.

There is no Nobel Prize in Economics<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/there-no-nobel-prize-economics" rel="nofollow">http://www.alternet.org/economy/there-no-nobel-prize-economi...</a>

I find it interesting that they awarded the prize to Shapley after Gale's death[0]. I always thought that there was some rule that prevented them from awarding the Physics Nobel Prize to Aharonov after Bohm died[1].<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_marriage_problem" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_marriage_problem</a><p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aharonov–Bohm_effect" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aharonov–Bohm_effect</a>

I recognized their names from the first example in the classic book "Algorithm Design" by Kleinberg and Tardos. But there it was called Gale-Shapley Algorithm.

Josh Gans provides a good summary on Roth and Shapley over at Core Economics <a href="http://economics.com.au/?p=9423" rel="nofollow">http://economics.com.au/?p=9423</a>

The so-called "nobel" prize in economics does not come from the estate of Alfred Nobel. It comes from the central bank. Thus it is not surprising to see it given to people that central banks would favor (often people whose theories try to justify inflationary policies.)<p>This one seems to be given for work that could be said to claim that central planning really can work after all.