The Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences was the only prize not to be included in the will of Alfred Nobel. In a controversial move, it was created in 1968 by the Swedish central bank.

However, the Nobel science committee awards the prize and treats the economists who won it exactly the same as all other winners. This includes big names such as: Jan Tinbergen, Paul Samuelson, Kenneth Arrow, Wassily Leontief, Friedrich Hayek (who criticized the prize), Milton Friedman, Bertil Ohlin, James Tobin, Franco Modigliani, Robert Solow, John Forbes Nash, William Vickrey (see my previous video), Myron Scholes, Robert Mundell, George Akerlof, Joseph Stiglitz, Daniel Kahneman, Paul Krugman, Elinor Ostrom (the first woman to win the prize), Robert J. Shiller, Jean Tirole, Richard Thaler, William Nordhaus, Paul Romer, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and finally, this year Paul Milgrom, and Robert B. Wilson.

So what is so controversial about the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel?

Some have asked, why does economics need this extra prize. Other popular sciences like computer science and mathematics do not have one. Instead, they have the Turing prize and Fields medal respectively.

Some prominent economist like those associated with the Institute for New Economic Thinking see it as a ploy by the Swedish central bank to make central bank independence more credible.

One of the most scathing criticism comes from Peter Nobel, one of the descendants of Alfred Nobel. Peter has said that his great uncle Alfred despised people who cared more about profits than society’s well-being.

Want to read the script for this video? Check it out in the form of a blog post here: [ Ссылка ]

Narrated and produced by Dr. Joeri Schasfoort (University of Cape Town)
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