In recognition of the significant contributions of Armen Alchian, one of the greatest Armenian economists of the 20th century, the Armenian Economic Association named its flagship award after him on the occasion of his 100th anniversary in 2014. Alchian founded the UCLA tradition in Economics, leaving a lasting legacy through his influential articles and his renowned textbook, now in multiple editions and still used at top universities, that has educated and inspired generations of economists worldwide. His scholarly achievements were held in such high regard that many considered him a serious contender for the Nobel Prize.
The award itself takes the form of a medal, worn around the neck, designed by Jevo — the twin-brother artist duo from Gyumri. Its obverse bears a portrait of Alchian, a tribute to his profound intellectual contributions to economics.
The Armen Alchian Award is given for the best general-interest paper presented at the AEA Annual Meetings.
2026 Winner
Caio Lorecchio (Universitat de Barcelona), Multilateral Bargaining with Information Spillovers (with Vladimir Asriyan and William Fuchs)
Past Winners
2025 Salome Baslandze (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta), The Price of Delay: Supply Chain Disruptions and Pricing Dynamics (with Simon Fuchs)
2024 Victoria Vanasco (CREI), Banks vs Firms: Who Benefits from Credit Guarantees? (with Alberto Martin and Sergio Mayordomo)
2023 Davit Gomtsyan (CERDI), The Global Software Production Network (with Carlo Birkholz)
2022 Hayk Hambardzumyan (University of Michigan), Equity Term Structure Dynamics in a Heterogeneous Firm and Heterogeneous Household Model
2021 Corina Boar (New York University), Efficient Redistribution (with Virgiliu Midrigan)
2020 Vladimir Asriyan (CREI), Collateral Booms and Information Depletion (with Luc Laeven and Alberto Martin)
2019 Armenak Antinyan (Zhongnan University of Economics and Law), Curbing the Consumption of Positional Goods: Taxing vs. Nudging
2018 Nikolaos Artavanis (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Tax Evasion and VAT Rates: Evidence from a Setting with Limited Tax-Shifting
2017 Tatevik Sekhposyan (Texas A&M University), Asymmetries in Monetary Policy Uncertainty: New Evidence from Financial Forecasts (with Tatjana Dahlhaus)
Arevik Gnutzmann-Mkrtchyan (Leibniz University of Hanover), Politicized Trade: What Drives Withdrawal of Trade Preferences? (with Martin Gassebner)
2016 Gunes Gokmen (New Economic School), Minorities and Long-run Development: Persistence of Armenian and Greek Influence in Turkey (with Cemal Eren Arbatli)
Mariam Arzumanyan (Central Bank of Armenia), Costly Voting in Runoff Elections (with Mattias Polborn)
Suren Pakhchanyan (University of Oldenburg), Systemic Operational Risk: Spillover Effects of Large Operational Losses in the European Banking Industry (with Thomas Kaspereit, Kerstin Lopatta, and Jörg Prokop)
Ivan Djuric (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies), CIS Market Integration and Price Transmission Along the Supply Chains: What Are the Main Driving Forces and Challenges?
2015 Vardan Baghdasaryan (American University of Armenia), Electoral Fraud and Voter Turnout: Experimental Study
Vardan Avagyan (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Riding Successive Product Diffusion Waves: Building a Tsunami via Upgrade-Rebate Programs
Artashes Karapetyan (Central Bank of Norway), Collateral versus Informed Screening during Banking Relationships
2014 (sponsored by USAID/FED) Aleksandr Grigoryan (American University of Armenia), Migration and Power
Nune Hovhannisyan (Loyola University Maryland), Technology Sourcing through International Business Travel
Gurgen Aslanyan (CERGE-EI), Are Bismarckian Pensions Immune to Unskilled Immigration?