Professor Sir James Mirrlees, a former recipient of the title of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa and Honorary Professor from the University of Macau (UM), who was also a Nobel laureate in economics, passed away in Cambridge, United Kingdom, at the age of 82. UM would like to offer the deepest condolences on the passing of Prof Mirrlees and has sent a condolence letter to his family. UM members will forever remember him.

UM Rector Yonghua Song was very saddened to hear of the passing of Prof Mirrlees. Prof Mirrlees was a pioneer of the economics of imperfect information. His work has laid the methodological foundation of the modern approach to decision-making under imperfect and asymmetric information. Prof Mirrlees has made a significant contribution to UM and became an exemplary role model for his counterparts in the academia.

UM conferred the title of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa and Honorary Professor on Prof Mirrlees in 2004 for his exceptional contributions to the economic field. In addition to his academic achievements, he was also known as a great educator. With wisdom and passion, he supervised UM doctoral students during his term as a distinguished professor at the university.

Prof Mirrlees was born in 1936 in Scotland. He graduated in mathematics from the University of Edinburgh, and then went to Cambridge to read mathematics. In 1996, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his fundamental contribution to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information