Until recently, economics was widely regarded as a non-experimental science that had to rely
on observation of real-world economies rather than controlled laboratory experiments.  Many
commentators also found restrictive the common assumption of a homo oeconomicus
motivated by self-interest and capable of making rational decisions.  But research in
economics has taken off in new directions.  A large and growing body of scientific work is
now devoted to the empirical testing and modification of traditional postulates in economics,
in particular those of unbounded rationality, pure self-interest, and complete self-control.  
Moreover, today’s research increasingly relies on new data from laboratory experiments
rather than on more traditional field data, that is, data obtained from observations of real
economies.  This recent research has its roots in two distinct, but converging, traditions:
theoretical and empirical studies of human decision-making in cognitive psychology, and tests
of predictions from economic theory by way of laboratory experiments. Today, behavioral
economics and experimental economics are among the most active fields in economics, as
measured by publications in major journals, new doctoral dissertations, seminars, workshops
and conferences.  This year’s laureates are pioneers of these two fields of research.