John Bates Clark Medal

Definition

The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to “that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge”. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, it “is widely regarded as one of the field’s most prestigious awards…second only to the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.” The award was made biennially until 2007, but from 2009 is now awarded every year because of the growth of the field. The award is named after the American economist John Bates Clark. Although the Clark medal is billed as a prize for American economists, it is sufficient that the candidates work in the US at the time of the award; US nationality is not necessary to be considered.

John Bates Clark Medal

What is ‘John Bates Clark Medal’

An award issued to an American economist under the age of 40 who has made important contributions to the field of economics. The Clark Medal is one of the most prestigious awards in the field, and many John Bates Clark Medal winners have gone on to win the Nobel prize in economics.

Unlike the Nobel prize, however, the medal is never awarded to more than one economist in the same year.

Explaining ‘John Bates Clark Medal’

The John Bates Clark Medal is considered one of the two most prestigious awards that an economist can earn, along with the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Many winners of the medal go on to also become Noble Memorial Prize winners: from 1947 to 2010, 12 of the 32 winners of the John Bates Clark Medal also won the Nobel Memorial Prize.

Previous winners include Paul Samuelson, Milton Friedman, James Tobin, Kenneth Arrow, Robert Solow, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, Zvi Griliches, Gary Becker, Daniel McFadden, A. Michael Spence and James Heckman. John Bates Clark was an American neoclassical economist who passed away March 21, 1938.

John Bates Clark Medal

Definition