Becker, Gary Stanley (1930-...), an American economist, extended microeconomic theory to the study of marriage, criminal activity, and similar areas of human behavior. Previously, such areas had been studied only by sociologists and anthropologists. Microeconomics is the branch of economics that studies individual economic behavior. Becker believed that the origins of social actions, such as racial discrimination and decisions about the size of families, are economic rather than emotional. For his theories, Becker was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1992.