Winning a Nobel Prize is usually a moment to pause, celebrate and take in the news. But for economist Michael Woodford, the big announcement came with a familiar responsibility: he had an exam to conduct.
Woodford, a professor at Columbia University in New York, was awarded the 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Robert E Hall for their Despite the life-changing news, Woodford went ahead with his scheduled exam, arriving at the classroom to cheers and applause from his students, according to Columbia News.
“It’s just a staggering piece of news,” Woodford said after learning that he had received the honour.
Woodford received a call from Stockholm informing him of the award on a day that was already packed with commitments. , visitors to meet and a recruitment responsibility to attend to at his university.
Speaking to Adam Smith of the Nobel Prize website, Woodford explained that he still needed to collect the exam papers and booklets before heading to the classroom, the report mentioned.
He said he still had to collect the exam papers and booklets his students would need for the test. He also had a visitor from the UK scheduled to meet him, along with a job candidate he was helping recruit for his department.
“Today is a very busy day. It was supposed to be a busy day already, so we’ll see what happens to it,” he said.
When asked whether the students would be able to concentrate as well as they normally would after hearing the news, Woodford acknowledged that they might have other ideas.
“They’re probably hoping I’ll cancel the exam. I don’t know if I should,” he said, according to the report.
But the exam went ahead. At 10.10 am, Woodford arrived at Uris Hall to conduct the assessment for his course, Cognitive Mechanisms and Economic Behavior. His students greeted him with cheers and applause, turning an otherwise routine university morning into a memorable occasion.
Rather than spending the morning celebrating his achievement, the newly announced Nobel laureate returned to his role as a professor and got on with his work.
Woodford and Hall were awarded the 2026 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their work on the microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation.
Their research has helped improve economic models used to understand how economies respond to changes and shocks. These models can help policymakers make better decisions about when and how to use monetary and fiscal policies to limit sharp economic swings.
In simple terms, their work helps explain how decisions made by households and businesses connect with the wider economy, and how governments and central banks can respond when economic conditions change.