Americans Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson won the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday for “improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”

The last order of business for many bankrupt companies — restaurants in particular — is to put their assets under the gavel.

What started in 1970 with a massive MGM auction has turned into a multimillion-dollar global business.

The items at the auction include everything from David Rockefeller’s gold cuff links to Picasso paintings that were once owned by writer Gertrude Stein.

But art critic Blake Gopnik explains why that might not be the right question to ask.

It was created by Walt Disney and fellow illustrator Herb Ryman in just one weekend to woo theme park investors in 1953.

The art world, "where insider trading … is completely legal and actually frequently practiced."