R. K. Cho Economics Prize

The R. K. Cho Economics Prize (조락교경제학상) is one of the most prestigious awards to economists, which is awarded by Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. 

It has been awarded to scholars in the field of economics who have contributed to the development of scholarship and education. As of 2025, the prize includes a plaque, a medal, and a monetary award of 100 million KRW (approximately, 75K USD). 

It was established in 2007 with an endowment from the late Mr. R. K. Cho, the president of Samryoong Co. and the chairman of Yongwoon Foundation, as well as an alumnus of Yonsei University's Economics Department. Cho was motivated to create the prize after seeing the results of his prior humanities-focused donations to Yonsei University and hoped the prize could help to connect students of his alma mater and famous South Korean economists overseas. Originally awarded only to South Korean citizens, in 2015, the prize was opened to foreign scholars as well.

This year's recipient

We are proud to announce that Professor Atif Mian (Princeton University) is this year's recipient of the R. K. Cho Economics Prize! 

Professor Atif Mian is a leading economist renowned for his influential work in macroeconomics and finance, particularly on the interconnections between household debt, financial crises, and economic growth. His research has deepened our understanding of how financial market imperfections and leverage cycles can amplify economic downturns. 

Professor Mian has also made seminal contributions to the study of inequality, monetary policy transmission, and the global implications of debt dynamics. Through both empirical rigor and theoretical insight, his work continues to shape modern macro-financial thinking and inform policy debates worldwide.

He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021, and was elected Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2021. In 2014, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) selected Professor Mian as one of twenty-five young economists who it expects will shape the world's thinking about the global economy in the future.

Past recipients

2024: Susan Athey (Stanford University) for her pioneering work at the intersection of technology and economics.

2023: John A. List (University of Chicago) for his pioneering contributions to field experiments in economics.

2022: Yuriy Gorodnichenko (University of California Berkeley) for his contributions to macroeconomics by enhancing our understanding of aggregate implications of informational frictions, effects of fiscal policy, and monetary policy.

2020: Valerie A. Ramey  (University of California San Diego) for her contributions to macroeconomics, including economic fluctuations, effects of fiscal policy, inventory behavior of firms, and propagation mechanism of various shocks.

2018: Hyungsik Roger Moon (University of Southern California & Yonsei University) for his contributions to theoretical works on panel data.

2017: Michihiro Kandori (University of Tokyo) for his contributions to the theory of social norms, convention, and cooperation.

2016: Quang Vuong (New York University) for his contributions to work in econometric model selection with the Vuong test.

2015: Richard Rogerson (Princeton University) for his contributions to work in the area of macroeconomics, as well as labor and public economics.

2014: Jay-pil Choi (Michigan State University & Yonsei University) for his theoretical contributions to the economic effect of innovations and antitrust.

2013: Yongsung Chang (University of Rochester & Yonsei University) for his contributions to work in macroeconomics with labor markets.

2012: In-koo Cho (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) for his contributions to work in game theory.

2011: Jinyong Hahn (University of California, Los Angeles) for his contributions to work in developing methodologies to analyze micro-econometric data. 

2010: Joon Y. Park (Indiana University) for his contributions to work in nonstationary time series and financial econometrics.

2009: Hyun-Song Shin (Princeton University) for his contributions to work in financial crises and financial stability.

2008: Yeon-Koo Che (Columbia University) for his contributions to work in mechanism design.