Philip Mirowski - Why Is There a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics?

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Reposted by Kevin M. Kruse
https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmkruse.bsky.social

Kevin J. CREATURE
‪@kevinjkircher.com‬

It's Nobel Prize week! A good time to remember that the economics prize was created by Swedish bankers in 1968 (67 years after the 5 original Nobel prizes) against the wishes of the Nobel family, partly to legitimize neoclassical economics in the public eye and partly to help banks avoid regulation.

Philip Mirowski - Why Is There a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics?
YouTube video by New Economic Thinking
m.youtube.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:18 AM

It's Nobel Prize week! A good time to remember that the economics prize was created by Swedish bankers in 1968 (67 years after the 5 original Nobel prizes) against the wishes of the Nobel family, partly to legitimize neoclassical economics in the public eye and partly to help banks avoid regulation.

— Kevin J. CREATURE (@kevinjkircher.com) 2025-10-06T12:18:46.645Z

Memorial Prize in Economics?

New Economic Thinking
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15,888 Views
2011 Aug 17
The Nobel Memorial Prize defines high achievement in economics, and it validates the discipline's claim for scientific authority. And yet, historically, it can be understood as a reflection of domestic policy conflicts in Sweden. This, Philip Mirowski would say, is but one example of the multifaceted nature of history. He and his team investigate how the Bank of Sweden's goal of political independence wound up elevating the status of neoclassical thinking within the economics profession. Writing the history of the Nobel Memorial Prize to tease out the influence of economic doctrines on policy norms in recent decades -- this is new economic thinking.

New Economic Thinking
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1. Controversies and criticisms

Misuse of the Nobel name

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.[38]

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.[39] 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".[38]

Accusations of bias

Critics cite the apparent snub of Joan Robinson as evidence of the committee's bias towards mainstream economics.[40][41]

Undue authority

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",[34][42] 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."[42] Nevertheless, Hayek accepted the award.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences