Thomas Sargent (top) and Christopher Sims.

With European governments struggling to avert imminent disaster in the Euro zone, the award of this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences could not be more relevant. The prize has gone to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims whose work explores how and if policy decisions can affect the economy and how unexpected shocks spread through it.

Maths and stats are central to economics and finance — so to celebrate their role we've had a look through our archive for our favourite articles on the subject. Who knows? Maybe they'll help save the Euro!

• Adam Smith and the invisible hand: a game theoretical look at Smith's famous invisible hand mechanism.
• What is financial mathematics?
• How maths killed Lehman Brothers
• Is maths to blame? a look at the credit crunch
• A risky business: How to price derivatives
• Rogue trading: more on derivatives
• What can birds tell us about flying through ash clouds?
• Leaving the markets: the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics shows that it's not all about the markets.
• The economics of health: what makes value for money in medicine?
• Game theory wins Nobel Prize: the 2005 Prize went for work on conflict and cooperation
• Career interview: Financial engineer
• Career interview: Financial maths course director