Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel[2][3][4] (Swedish: Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award funded by Sveriges Riksbank[5] and administered by the Nobel Foundation.
For the list of laureates, see List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economic Sciences.Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
Outstanding contributions in Economics or Social Sciences
1969
Although not one of the five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895,[6] it is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics,[7] and is administered and referred to along with the Nobel Prizes by the Nobel Foundation.[8] Winners of the Prize in Economic Sciences are chosen in a similar manner as and announced alongside the Nobel Prize recipients, and receive the Prize in Economic Sciences at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.[6][9]
That the prize is not an original Nobel Prize has been a subject of controversy, with four of Nobel's relatives having formally distanced themselves from the Prize in Economic Sciences.[10][11]
The award was established in 1968 by an endowment "in perpetuity" from Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, to commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary.[12][13][14][15] Laureates in the Prize in Economic Sciences are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[16][17] It was first awarded in 1969 to Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen and Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".[15][18][19]
Controversies and criticisms[edit]
Misuse of the Nobel name[edit]
Some critics argue that the prestige of the Prize in Economic Sciences derives in part from its association with the Nobel Prizes, an association that has often been a source of controversy. Among them is the Swedish human rights lawyer Peter Nobel, a great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel.[40]
Nobel accuses the awarding institution of misusing his family's name, and states that no member of the Nobel family has ever had the intention of establishing a prize in economics.[41] He explained that "Nobel despised people who cared more about profits than society's well-being", saying that "There is nothing to indicate that he would have wanted such a prize", and that the association with the Nobel prizes is "a PR coup by economists to improve their reputation".[40]
Accusations of bias[edit]
Critics cite the apparent snub of Joan Robinson as evidence of the committee's bias towards mainstream economics,[42][43] though heterodox economists like Friedrich Hayek (Austrian School) and Ronald Coase (associated with new institutional economics) have won.
Undue authority[edit]
In his speech at the 1974 Nobel Prize banquet, Friedrich Hayek stated that had he been consulted on the establishment of a Nobel Prize in economics, he would "have decidedly advised against it"[36][44] primarily because, "The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess. ... This does not matter in the natural sciences. Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to size if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally."[44] Nevertheless, Hayek accepted the award.