A Nobel Prize winner who has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of economics will deliver a free public lecture in Lancaster.

Professor Roger Myerson will give the 2025 Andrews and Brunner Lecture at Lancaster University Management School on Wednesday, January 21.

Professor Myerson, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Economics along with Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin for their work in laying the foundations of mechanism design theory.

In his lecture, Local Politics in Nations and Empires, Professor Myerson will explore the foundations of political stability through the lens of local leadership, property rights, and state-building.

Drawing on his work, he will examine how the relationship between local communities and national governance has shaped both prosperous democracies and enduring autocratic states.

He will argue that a state’s long-term success depends on maintaining trust between national leaders and locally rooted elites — a dynamic that remains central to political and economic development today.

Professor Myerson has made pathbreaking contributions to mechanism design – often described as the engineering branch of economics – as well as political economy and cooperative game theory.

Mechanism design studies how to construct social and economic mechanisms that lead to desirable collective outcomes despite individuals’ self-interest. Professor Myerson’s pioneering work has yielded fundamental results and insights on mechanisms that induce truthful reporting of preferences in auctions, procurements, and other trading environments, thereby achieving efficient market outcomes.

“Roger Myerson’s important research contributions have influenced not only economics but also other disciplines, including political science and business administration,” said Professor Eyal Winter, the Andrews and Elizabeth Brunner Chair in Economics in Lancaster University Management School. “His visit and lecture are part of a commitment from the Economics Department and the University to bring leading scholars to Lancaster University to meet with students and staff.”

Previous Andrews and Brunner Lecture series speakers over the past five years have included Vernon Smith, Alvin Roth, Robert Aumann, and Eric Maskin, all of whom are Nobel Laureates in Economics.

The Andrews and Brunner Lecture will start at 6pm on January 21, preceded by a drinks reception, and will finish at 7.30pm. Attendance at the event is free, but registration is required, and can be made at https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/98094