Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences#Controversies and criticisms

An endowment "in perpetuity" from Sveriges Riksbank pays the Nobel Foundation's administrative expenses associated with the award and funds the monetary component of the award.{{cite web |title=Statutes for The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel approved by the Crown on the 19th day of December 1968 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org |access-date=16 November 2007 |quote=In celebration of the Tercentenary of Sveriges Riksbank, the Bank has instituted a prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel. ... The Prize shall be awarded annually to a person who has written a work on economic sciences of the eminent significance expressed in the will of Alfred Nobel drawn up on November 27, 1895. ... The Prize shall be awarded by the Royal Academy of Sciences in accordance with the rules governing the award of the Nobel Prizes instituted through his will. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006}} The amount of the Prize in Economic Sciences remains the same as other prizes, at 11 million Swedish kronor in 2023 and 2024.{{cite web |title=The Prize in Economics Sciences 2022 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/press-release/ |website=The Sveriges Riksbank in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel |publisher=Nobel Foundation |access-date=12 September 2023 |date=10 October 2022 |archive-date=12 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012092548/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/press-release/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/amounts/ |title=The Nobel Prize Amounts |website=www.nobelprize.org |access-date=2023-04-26 |archive-date=2018-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720111123/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/amounts/ |url-status=live}}Assar Lindbeck, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1969–2006"], nobelprize.org, April 18, 1999. Retrieved 11 November 2007.[http://www.kva.se/en/pressrum/pressmeddelanden/ekonomipriset-2007 "The Prize in Economic Sciences 2007"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810014852/http://www.kva.se/en/pressrum/pressmeddelanden/ekonomipriset-2007 |date=2017-08-10}}, press release, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, October 15, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2007. {{Cite web |url=http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/_news/detail.asp?NewsId=988 |title=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – www.kva.se |access-date=November 14, 2007 |archive-date=November 14, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114222806/http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/_news/detail.asp?NewsId=988 |url-status=bot: unknown}} Since 2006, Sveriges Riksbank has given the Nobel Foundation an annual grant of 6.5 million Swedish kronor (in January 2008, approx. US$1 million; €0.7 million) for its administrative expenses associated with the award as well as 1 million Swedish kronor (until the end of 2008) to include information about the award on the Nobel Foundation's official websites.{{cite web |title=Årsredovidning 2006 |publisher=Sveriges Riksbank |date=29 March 2007 |url=http://www.riksbank.se/Upload/Dokument_riksbank/Kat_publicerat/Rapporter/2007/arsred_popvers_06_sve.pdf#page=68 |format=PDF |access-date=15 September 2013 |quote=I posten ekonomipris ingår prissumman om 10 miljoner kronor samt administrationskostnader för detta pris om 6,5 miljoner kronor. Dessutom har bidrag givits till det interaktiva Internetmuseum som Nobelstiftelsen byggt upp. Bidraget avser täckande av kostnaden för information om ekonomipriset. Bidraget ska enligt avtal utbetalas årligen med 1 miljon kronor till och med 2008. |archive-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313070844/http://www.riksbank.se/Upload/Dokument_riksbank/Kat_publicerat/Rapporter/2007/arsred_popvers_06_sve.pdf#page=68 |url-status=dead}}

The Prize in Economic Sciences is not one of the original five Nobel Prizes endowed by Alfred Nobel in his will.{{cite news |last=Rampell |first=Catherine |title=2 From U.S. Win Nobel in Economics |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/business/economy/alvin-roth-and-lloyd-shapley-win-nobel-in-economic-science.html |access-date=3 November 2012 |newspaper=New York Times |date=15 October 2012 |archive-date=2 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102201934/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/business/economy/alvin-roth-and-lloyd-shapley-win-nobel-in-economic-science.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Nomination of the Laureates in Economics |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org |access-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006}} However, the nomination process, selection criteria, and awards presentation of the Prize in Economic Sciences are performed in a manner similar to that of the original Nobel Prizes.[http://www.kva.se/en/priser/ekonomipriset "Prize in Economic Sciences"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008013935/http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/awards/nobel/economy/index.asp |date=2006-10-08}}, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Retrieved July 4, 2017.

Laureates are announced with the other Nobel Prize laureates, and receive the award at the same ceremony. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prize "in accordance with the rules governing the award of the Nobel Prizes instituted through his [Alfred Nobel's] will", which stipulate that the prize be awarded annually to "those who ... shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind".{{cite web |title=Excerpt from the Will of Alfred Nobel |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006 |access-date=7 November 2007}}

{{Main|Committee for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel}}

File:Nobel2008Economics news conference1.jpg

According to its official website, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "administers a researcher exchange with academies in other countries and publishes six scientific journals. Every year the Academy awards the Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Chemistry, the Prize in Economic Sciences, the Crafoord Prize and a number of other large prizes".

Each September the Academy's Economics Prize Committee, which consists of five elected members, "sends invitations to thousands of scientists, members of academies and university professors in numerous countries, asking them to nominate candidates for the Prize in Economics for the coming year. Members of the Academy and former laureates are also authorised to nominate candidates."{{cite web |title=Nomination and Selection of the Laureates in Economics |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org|access-date=18 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006}} All proposals and their supporting evidence must be received before February 1. The proposals are reviewed by the Prize Committee and specially appointed experts. Before the end of September, the committee chooses potential laureates. If there is a tie, the chairman of the committee casts the deciding vote.{{Cn|date=February 2024}}

Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences vote in mid-October to determine the next laureate or laureates of the Prize in Economics.{{cite web |title=Members |publisher=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |url=http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/about/members/index.asp?br=ns&ver=6up |access-date=18 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504225908/http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/about/members/index.asp?br=ns&ver=6up |archive-date=May 4, 2008}} As with the Nobel Prizes, no more than three people can share the prize for a given year; they must still be living at the time of the Prize announcement in October; and information about Prize nominations cannot be disclosed publicly for 50 years.

Like the Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature, each laureate in Economics receives a diploma, gold medal, and monetary grant award document from the King of Sweden at the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, on the anniversary of Nobel's death (December 10).{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies and Banquets |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org |access-date=7 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006}}

{{main list|List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economic Sciences}}

File:Nobel Prize 1 2013.jpg.]]

The first prize in economics was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes".{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/|url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006 |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1969 |publisher=Nobel Foundation |access-date=28 October 2012}} Three women have received the prize: Elinor Ostrom, who won in 2009, Esther Duflo, who won in 2019,{{cite web |url=https://www.apnews.com/777efc95f30f41cc997ee47ce04c1c89 |title=3 economists who study poverty win Nobel Prize |last1=Wiseman |first1=Paul |last2=Ljubojevic |first2=Aleksandar |last3=LeBlanc |first3=Steve |date=14 October 2019 |website=apnews.com |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=3 November 2019 |archive-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102193438/https://apnews.com/777efc95f30f41cc997ee47ce04c1c89 |url-status=live}}

and Claudia Goldin, who won in 2023. Goldin was the first woman to win the award solo.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/claudia-goldin-wins-2023-nobel-economics-prize-2023-10-09/|title=Nobel economics prize goes to Claudia Goldin|first1=Simon|last1=Johnson|first2=Johan|last2=Ahlander|newspaper=Reuters|date=October 9, 2023|via=www.reuters.com|access-date=2023-10-09|archive-date=2023-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009153018/https://www.reuters.com/world/claudia-goldin-wins-2023-nobel-economics-prize-2023-10-09/|url-status=live}}

In February 1995, following acrimony within the selection committee pertaining to the awarding of the 1994 Prize in Economics to John Forbes Nash, the Prize in Economics was redefined as a prize in social sciences. This made it available to researchers in such topics as political science, psychology, and sociology.Nasar, A Beautiful Mind, p. 372.{{Cite news |last=Brittan |first=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Brittan |title=The not so noble Nobel Prize |newspaper=Financial Times |date=19 December 2003 |url=http://www.samuelbrittan.co.uk/text172_p.html |access-date=26 November 2009 |archive-date=30 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630015308/http://www.samuelbrittan.co.uk/text172_p.html |url-status=live}}

Moreover, the composition of the Economics Prize Committee changed to include two non-economists. This has not been confirmed by the Economics Prize Committee. The members of the 2007 Economics Prize Committee are still dominated by economists, as the secretary and four of the five members are professors of economics.{{cite web |title=The Economics Prize Committee |publisher=Nobel Foundation |url=http://nobelprize.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006 |access-date=8 January 2008}}

In 1978, Herbert A. Simon, whose PhD was in political science, became the first non-economist to win the prize,{{cite press release |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1978 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1978/press-release/ |website=NobelPrize.org |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926020100/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1978/press-release/ |archive-date=26 September 2023 |url-status=live}} for his work in the fields of economics and organizational decision making. Elinor Ostrom, also a political scientist, won the prize in 2009. Similarly, Daniel Kahneman, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, won the prize for work in the field of behavioral economics.{{cite web |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2002 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/press-release/ |website=NobelPrize.org |access-date=15 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410162121/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/press-release/ |archive-date=10 April 2024 |language=en |url-status=live}}

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.thelocal.se/20050928/2173|title=Nobel descendant slams Economics prize |date=28 September 2005|work=thelocalsweden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014012248/http://www.thelocal.se/2173/20050928/ |archive-date=October 14, 2007 |access-date=3 March 2016}}

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.{{Cite news |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Alfred-Nobels-familie-tar-avstand-fra-okonomiprisen-552817b.html |title=Alfred Nobels familie tar avstand fra økonomiprisen |work=Aftenposten |access-date=2017-04-21 |archive-date=2017-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422132246/http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Alfred-Nobels-familie-tar-avstand-fra-okonomiprisen-552817b.html |url-status=live}} 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".

Critics cite the apparent snub of Joan Robinson as evidence of the committee's bias towards mainstream economics.{{cite news |first=Sylvia |last=Nasar |title=The Sometimes Dismal Nobel Prize in Economics |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/business/13PRIZ.html |work=The New York Times |date=13 October 2001 |access-date=13 September 2011 |quote=[Ms. Robinson] did not win the prize because [the committee] feared that she would either refuse it or, worse, use the Nobel limelight to attack mainstream economics. |archive-date=14 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514101026/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/13/business/13PRIZ.html |url-status=live}}{{cite news |first=Alex |last=Millmow |title=An IgNobel Scandal |url=http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/wholeissues/issue13.htm |publisher=Post-Autistic Economics Review |date=2 May 2002 |access-date=18 October 2007 |archive-date=14 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414024732/http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/wholeissues/issue13.htm |url-status=live}}

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",{{cite web |first=Friedrich |last=von Hayek |author-link=Friedrich von Hayek |title=Friedrich von Hayek: Banquet Speech |publisher=Nobel Foundation |date=10 December 1974 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/1974/hayek-speech.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405023917/http://nobelprize.org/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 April 2006 |access-date=27 November 2009}} 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." Nevertheless, Hayek accepted the award.

• Friedrich Hayek - according to Samuel Brittan of the Financial Times, both the former Swedish minister for finance, Kjell-Olof Feldt, and the former Swedish minister for commerce, Gunnar Myrdal, wanted the prize abolished, with "Myrdal rather less graciously want[ing] the prize abolished because it had been given to such reactionaries as Hayek (and afterwards Milton Friedman)." Relatedly, it has been noted that several members of the awarding committee have been affiliated with the Mont Pelerin Society.{{cite book |last1=Offer |first1=Avner |title=The Nobel Factor: The Prize in Economics, Social Democracy, and the Market Turn |last2=Söderberg |first2=Gabriel |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |edition=1st |pages=104–105}}

• Milton Friedman - was awarded the 1976 prize in part for his work on monetarism. Awarding the prize to Friedman caused international protests.{{cite book |first=Burton |last=Feldman |title=The Nobel Prize: A History of Genius, Controversy, and Prestige|chapter=Chapter 9: The Economics Memorial Prize |publisher=Arcade Publishing |year=2000 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/nobelprizehistor00feld/page/350 350] |isbn=1-55970-537-X |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/nobelprizehistor00feld/page/350}} Friedman was accused of supporting the military dictatorship in Chile because of the relation of economists of the University of Chicago to Pinochet, and a controversial six-day trip{{cite news |title=General Augusto Pinochet |author=O'Shaughnessy, Hugh |date=11 December 2006 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/general-augusto-pinochet-427998.html |work=The Independent |access-date=6 September 2017 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515074418/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/general-augusto-pinochet-427998.html |url-status=live}} he took to Chile during March 1975 (less than two years after the coup that ended with the suicide of its democratically elected President Salvador Allende). Friedman himself answered that he never was an adviser to the dictatorship, but only gave some lectures and seminars on inflation and met with officials, including Augusto Pinochet, in Chile.{{cite journal |url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3540561.html |title=Two Lucky People: One Week in Stockholm |last1=Friedman |first1=Milton |last2=Friedman |first2=Rose D. |journal=Hoover Digest: Research and Opinion on Public Policy |volume=1998 |issue=4 |access-date=2008-03-25 |archive-date=2008-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314035202/http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3540561.html |url-status=dead}} Four Nobel Prize laureates{{spaced ndash}}George Wald, Linus Pauling, David Baltimore and Salvador Luria{{spaced ndash}}wrote letters in October 1976 to The New York Times protesting Friedman's award.{{cite news |last1=Wald |first1=George |author-link=George Wald |last2=Pauling |first2=Linus |author2-link=Linus Pauling |date=24 October 1976 |title=Letters to the Editor: The Laureate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/24/archives/letters-to-the-editor.html |work=The New York Times |page=166}}{{cite news |last1=Baltimore |first1=David |author-link=David Baltimore |last2=Luria |first2=S. E. |author2-link=Salvador Luria |date=24 October 1976 |title=Letters to the Editor: The Laureate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/24/archives/letters-to-the-editor.html |work=The New York Times |page=166}}

• Robert Aumann - 2005 prize to Robert Aumann was criticized by the European press{{cite web |date=11 December 2005 |title=EJP | News | Western Europe | Anti-Israel protests against Nobel prize award |url=http://www.ejpress.org/article/4556 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215202811/http://www.ejpress.org/article/4556 |archive-date=15 December 2010 |access-date=5 February 2010 |publisher=Ejpress.org}} for his alleged use of game theory to justify his stance against the dismantling of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine.

• Eugene Fama and Robert Shiller at the same time - 2013 prize to Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen "for their empirical analysis of asset prices" was seen as contradictory because Eugene Fama's work is in support of Efficient-market hypothesis meanwhile Robert Shiller's work is against the Efficient-market hypothesis focusing in investors' irrational behavior.{{cite web |date=14 October 2013 |first1=Binyamin |last1=Appelbaum |author-link=Binyamin Appelbaum |title=Economists Clash on Theory, but Will Still Share the Nobel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/business/3-american-professors-awarded-nobel-in-economic-sciences.html |access-date=21 June 2025 |publisher=The New York Times}}{{cite web |date=10 December 2013 |first1=Katie |last1=Allen |title=Nobel prize-winning economists take disagreement to whole new level |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/10/nobel-prize-economists-robert-shiller-eugene-fama |access-date=21 June 2025 |publisher=The New York Times}}

The 1994 prize to mathematician John Forbes Nash caused controversy within the selection committee.Nasar, A Beautiful Mind, pp. 356–373.{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2096389_2096388_2096382,00.html |title=Top 10 Nobel Prize Controversies: John Forbes Nash |date=October 7, 2011 |magazine=Time |access-date=October 12, 2015 |last1=Phillips |first1=Jak |archive-date=October 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012060115/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2096389_2096388_2096382,00.html |url-status=live}} This resulted in a change to the rules governing the committee during 1994: The prize's scope was redefined as one of social sciences, and Prize Committee members were limited to serve for three years.

The prize's official name is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ({{langx|sv|Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne}}). The prize has undergone many name changes due to controversy surrounding its status and nature:

• List of economics awards
• List of Nobel laureates by country
• List of prizes known as the Nobel of a field
• List of prizes named after people

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Nasar |first=Sylvia |author-link=Sylvia Nasar |title=A Beautiful Mind |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998| location=New York |isbn=0-684-81906-6 |ref=refNasarmind}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Spoken Wikipedia|Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences_Recorded_by_Dimitri_O_Ledenyov_and_Viktor_O_Ledenyov.ogg|date=2016-02-15}}

• [https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/about-the-riksbank/the-tasks-of-the-riksbank/research/economics-prize/ The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel] on Sveriges Riksbank's web site.
• [https://www.kva.se/en/priser/ekonomipriset The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel] on the web site of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/ The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel] on the Nobel Foundation's web site.
• [https://ideas.repec.org/nobel.html IDEAS/RePEc].
• [https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en.html Nobel Perspectives website] – documentary interviews with past laureates of the Nobel Prize for Economics.

{{Nobel laureates in economics}}

{{Nobel Prizes}}

{{Financial economics awards}}

Category:1969 establishments in Sweden

Category:1969 in economic history

*Economics

Category:Awards established in 1969

Economics

Category:Economics awards