William Vickrey

William Vickrey was a Canadian economist known for his work in auction theory and public economics. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1996 for his research on incentive theory, which explores how people act based on the incentives presented to them. Vickrey is particularly famous for the "Vickrey auction," a bidding method where the highest bidder wins but pays the second-highest bid. This approach encourages honest bidding and can lead to more efficient outcomes. His ideas have significantly influenced economics, especially in understanding how people make decisions in competitive environments.