Sveriges Riksbank established the award in 1968 to celebrate its own three-hundredth anniversary. The institution created this new prize to honor Alfred Nobel while marking their own tercentenary milestone.
The first award ceremony took place in 1969 for Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen and Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch. These two men received the prize for developing dynamic models used to analyze economic processes.
In 2023 and 2024, the cash portion of the award stood at eleven million Swedish kronor. An endowment paid in perpetuity by Sveriges Riksbank covers administrative expenses and funds the monetary component today.
Peter Nobel argues that no member of the Nobel family ever intended to establish a prize in economics. He states that Alfred Nobel despised people who cared more about profits than society's well-being.
Following acrimony during February 1995, the Prize was redefined as one in social sciences. This change made it available to researchers in political science, psychology, and sociology.