ERIC S. MASKIN

An American professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007, along with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson. Maskin's award-winning research deals with mechanism design theory, or incentive-compatible mechanisms. Born in 1950 in New York City, he holds a Ph.D. in applied math from Harvard. In addition to IAS, he has taught at Princeton, MIT and Harvard.

Mechanism design theory explores how institutions can achieve desirable social or economic goals given the constraints of individuals' self-interest and incomplete information. Additional areas of Maskin's research include game theory, incentives, contract theory, auction design, electoral rules, monetary policy and intellectual property.