http://exiledonline.com/the-nobel-prize-in-economics-there-is-no-nobel-prize-in-economics/

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE / LIBERTARDS / OCTOBER 12, 2012

THE NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS? THERE IS NO NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS

By Yasha Levine

It’s Nobel Prize season again. News reports are coming out each day sharing the name of the illustrious winner of the various categories — Science, Literature, etc. But there’s one of the prizes that’s a little different. Well, that’s putting it lightly… you see, the Nobel Prize in Economics is not a real Nobel. It wasn’t created by Alfred Nobel. It’s not even called a ‘Nobel Prize,’ no matter what the press reports say.

The five real Nobel Prizes—physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and medicine/physiology—were set up in the will left by the dynamite magnate when he died in 1895. The economics prize is a bit different. It was created by Sweden’s Central Bank in 1969, nearly 75 years later. The award’s real name is the ‘Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.’ It was not established by Nobel, but supposedly in memory of Nobel. It’s a ruse and a PR trick, and I mean that literally. And it was done completely against the wishes of the Nobel family.

Sweden’s Central Bank quietly snuck it in with all the other Nobel Prizes to give retrograde free-market economics credibility and the appearance of scientific rigor. One of the Federal Reserve banks explained it succinctly, ‘Few realize, especially outside of economists, that the prize in economics is not an ‘official’ Nobel… . The award for economics came almost 70 years later—bootstrapped to the Nobel in 1968 as a bit of a marketing ploy to celebrate the Bank of Sweden’s 300th anniversary.’ Yes, you read that right: ‘a marketing ploy.’

Here’s a Nobel family member describing it: ‘The Economics Prize has nestled itself in and is awarded as if it were a Nobel Prize. But it’s a PR coup by economists to improve their reputation,’ Nobel’s great great nephew Peter Nobel told AFP in 2005, adding that ‘It’s most often awarded to stock market speculators… . There is nothing to indicate that [Alfred Nobel] would have wanted such a prize.’

Members of the Nobel family are among the harshest, most persistent critics of the economics prize, and members of the family have repeatedly called for the prize to be abolished or renamed. In 2001, on the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes, four family members published a letter in the Swedish paper Svenska Dagbladet, arguing that the economics prize degrades and cheapens the real Nobel Prizes. They aren’t the only ones. ——> Continued