Tony Atkinson awarded Neyman Medal

20 April 2012

Atkinson_Tony

The prestigious Neyman Medal has been awarded to Professor Sir Tony Atkinson for his contribution to statistics.

Under the Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, Professor Atkinson was awarded the medal by the Polish Statistical Association at its centenary conference in Poznan on Wednesday.

Professor Atkinson, who is Deputy Director, Economic Modelling, at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School commented, “It is a great honour to receive this medal. Jerzy Neyman is one of the best known Polish (and US) statisticians and his work has greatly influenced econometrics, statistical testing and sampling theory.”

The award ceremony took place at the special Congress of Polish Statistics, marking the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Polish Statistical Association. The Polish Statistical Association is an organization created to integrate specialists involved in public statistical services as well as representatives of the academic community, local and economic government and agencies of state administration.

Professor Atkinson and his team, including Oxford Martin Fellow Facundo Alvaredo, have recently developed The World Top Incomes Database which provides access to a wealth of data on the distribution of top incomes in more than twenty five countries across the globe. Users can select different types of data to build their own graphs and charts in order to see how much of the nation’s income is held by the top 1% or more. The database has become an essential resource for analysts, policymakers and journalists seeking to understand global distributions of income.