The Wicksell prize, in honour of the Swedish economist Johan Gustaf Knut Wicksell, is awarded to the best paper by an author younger than 30 years of age.
| Year | Winner | Paper | Committee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Miguel Alquézar-Yus | The Reversal of the Mission: The Influence of Religious Leaders on Sociopolitical Attitudes | Zohal Hessami, Jan-Egbert Sturm, Paola Profeta |
| 2022 | Marcel Steffen Eckardt | The political economy of automation and task-specific taxes | Francisco Veiga, Jan-Egbert Sturm, Paola Profeta |
| 2021 | Clemence Tricaud | Better Alone? Evidence on the Costs of Intermunicipal Cooperation | Francisco Veiga, Jan-Egbert Sturm, Paola Profeta |
| 2020 | —– | The conference was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Wicksell Prize was thus not awarded in 2020. | |
| 2019 | Matthias Quinckhardt | The mechanisms of the alignment bias in a mature Democracy: Evidence from Germany (published as: The value of a party: Local politics and the allocation of intergovernmental transfers, European Journal of Political Economy, 80: 102470) | Axel Dreher, Jan-Egbert Sturm, Francisco Veiga |
| 2018 | Quentin Lippmann | Is Incumbency a Barrier to Women’s Entry in Politics? (published as: Persistence of incumbents and female access to political positions, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 206: 327-349) | Axel Dreher, Vincenzo Galasso, Francisco Veiga |
| 2017 | Matteo Alpino | On the Electoral Effectiveness of Pre-election Policy Promises | Toke Aidt, Axel Dreher, Paola Profeta |
| 2016 | Mariana Lopes da Fonseca | Candid Lame Ducks (published as: Lame ducks and local fiscal policy: Quasi-experimental evidence from Portugal, Economic Journal 130 (626), 511–533) | Toke Aidt, Axel Dreher, Jan Fidrmuc |
| 2015 | Andreu Arenas Jal | The Ban of Batasuna: Effects on Local Government Spending (published as: Party bans, deterrence of backlash? Evidence from the Basque Country, Quarterly Journal of Political Science 16 (3), 325-358) | Toke Aidt, Martin Gassebner, Pierre-Guillaume Méon |
| 2014 | Wolf Heinrich Reuter | National Numerical Fiscal Rules: not Complied With, but Still Effective? (published as: European Journal of Political Economy 39: 67-81) | Roger Congleton, Martin Gassebner, Heinrich Ursprung |
| 2013 | Luca Repetto | Sending the Pork Home: Birth Town Bias in Transfers to Italian Municipalities (published as: Journal of Public Economics 134: 42-52) | Henrik Jordahl, Fabio Padovano, Heinrich Ursprung |
| 2012 | —– | The Wicksell Prize was not awarded at the 2nd World Public Choice meeting in Miami. | |
| 2011 | Monika Turyna | Campaign Finance Regulations and Policy Convergence: The Role of Interest Groups and Valence (published as: European Journal of Political Economy 33: 1-19) | Fabio Padovano, Lars Feld, Pierre-Guillaume Méon |
| 2010 | Alexander Libman | Words or Deeds – What Matters? Experience of Decentralization in Russian Security Agencies (published as: Empirical Economics, 49, 3: 801-838) | Lars Feld, Ronald Wintrobe |
| 2009 | Jan-Emmanuel De Neve | Endogenous Preferences: The Political Consequences of Economic Institutions | Fabio Padovano, Martin Paldam, Friedrich Schneider |
| 2008 | Michael Herrmann | Estimating uncertainty in strategic voting (published as: Public Choice 151: 62-90) | Bruno Frey |
| 2007 | Cameron A. Shelton | The Information Content of Elections and Varieties of the Partisan Political Business Cycle (published as: Public Choice 150, 1-2: 209-240) | Vani Borooah, Douglas Hibbs, Dennis Mueller |
| 2006 | Mogens Kamp Justesen | The Social Choice of EU Treaties: Discrepancies between Voter Preferences and Referenda Outcomes in Denmark (published as: European Union Politics 8, 4: 537-553) | Lars Feld |
| 2005 | Dorothee Schmidt | ||
| 2004 | Roland Hodler | The Curse of Natural Resources in Fractionalized Countries (published as: European Economic Review 50, 6: 1367-1386) | Lars Feld, Jakob de Haan, Bengt-Arne Wickström, |
| 2003 | Klarita Gërxhani | Tax evasion in transition: Outcome of an institutional clash? (published as: European Economic Review 48(4): 729-745) | Jakob de Haan |
| 2002 (Two winners) | Fabrizio Erbetta | Does the run-up of privatization work as an effective incentive mechanism? Preliminary findings from a sample of Italian firms | Mario Ferrero, Martin Paldam |
| Jan Schnellenbach | Tax Morale and the Legitimacy of Economic Policy (published as: Constitutional Political Economy 17: 115-130) | Mario Ferrero, Martin Paldam | |
| 2001 (Two winners) | Lisa Chauvet | Socio-political instability and the allocation of international aid by donors (published as: European Journal of Political Economy 19, 1: 33-59) | Arthur Schram, Vani Borooah, Douglas Hibbs, Martin Paldam |
| Henrik Jordahl | An Economic Analysis of Voting in Sweden (published as: Public Choice 127, 3-4: 251-265) | Arthur Schram, Vani Borooah, Douglas Hibbs, Martin Paldam | |
| 2000 | Philipp Maier and Erik Leertouwer | Who Creates Political Business Cycles: Should Central Banks Be Blamed? (published as: European Journal of Political Economy 17, 3: 445-463) | Arthur Schram |
| 1999 | Toke Aidt | Strategic Political Participation and Redistribution (published as: Economics & Politics 14, 1: 19-40) | |
| 1998 | Clemens Fuest | The Political Economy of Tax Coordination as a Bargaining Game between Bureaucrats and Politicians? (published as: Public Choice 103, 3-4: 357-382) | |
| 1997 | Martin Kolmar | ||
| 1996 | Lars Feld | Exit, Voice and Income Taxes: The Loyalty of Voters (published as: European Journal of Political Economy 13, 3: 455–478) | Vani Borooah, Martin Paldam, Arthur Schram |
| 1995 | Torsten Peters | Voting Power after the Enlargement and Options for Decision Making in the European Union (published as Aussenwirtschaft 51, 223-244) | Jose Casas Pardo, Friedrich Schneider |
| 1994 | |||
| 1993 | Tobias Ursprung | Vani Borooah, Giorgio Brosio |