Sveriges Riksbank awards 2014 prize for Economics to Jean Tirole

The Sveriges Riksbank awarded the 2014 prize for Economics to Jean Tirole, of Toulouse University, for his work on how to regulate large firms, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

He was described as playing a major role in the study of competition, analysing how large firms should be regulated to prevent consumers being damaged by monopolistic behaviour.

"In other words, his work has helped prevent Big Businesses from exploiting the rest of us," the awards committee said.

The first question from the audience for Profesor Tirole centred on Google.

The academic called attention to the fact that consumers actually get a "good deal" from the web search company, highlighting that the most important thing to watch against when regulating such firms is that they do not impede the entry of new and more economic competitors - as they tend to become monopolies.

Speaking on the subject of banks and insurers, and in response to a question from another one of the journalists in attendance, he said so-called counter party-risk needs to be better regulated, as the case of US insurer AIG revealed during the past financial crisis.