The prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was set up in 1968.
It was not one of the original awards set out in dynamite tycoon Mr Nobel`s 1895 will.
Mr Tirole, 61, is six years younger than the average age of Nobel economics laureates.
Regulators and competition authorities have obtained "a whole new set of tools" from Mr Tirole`s work, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which announced the award.
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