“In total, Richard Thaler’s contributions have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making,” the award-giving body said on announcing the 9 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize.

“His empirical findings and theoretical insights have been instrumental in creating the new and rapidly expanding field of behavioural economics, which has had a profound impact on many areas of economic research and policy.”

The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobel’s 1895 will.