2 STANFORD ECONOMISTS WIN NOBEL PRIZE FOR IMPROVING AUCTIONS

Auctions are everywhere in today’s economy. They determine how Google sells ads, what price consumers end up paying for electricity, and the way governments sell off the public airwaves to telecom companies and broadcasters.

For helping make auctions run more efficiently, two Americans won the Nobel prize for economics.

The discoveries of Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson, both of Stanford University, “have benefited sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world,” the Nobel Committee said.

Wilson, 83, was once Milgrom’s Ph.D. adviser, and the two also happen to be neighbors. Reached by phone at his home in California,