Lars P. Syll — The Nobel prize in economics is a disgrace. Dump it!

Georgescu-Roegen and ecological economics have turned against the neoclassical theory’s obsession with purely monetary factors. The monetary reductionism easily makes you ignore other factors having a bearing on human interaction with the environment.

I wonder if this isn’t the crux of the matter. To assert such a thing really is to swear in the neoclassical establishment church and nullifies any chances of getting the prestigious prize.

Twenty years ago, after a radio debate with one of the members of the prize committee, I asked why Georgescu-Roegen hadn’t got the prize. The answer was – mirabile dictu – that he “never founded a school.” I was surprised, to say the least, and wondered if he possibly had heard of the environmental movement. Well, he had — but it was “the wrong kind of school”! Can it be stated much clearer than this what it’s all about? If you haven’t worked within the mainstream neoclassical paradigm — then you are more or less excluded a priori from being eligible for the The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel!

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
The Nobel prize in economics is a disgrace. Dump it!
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

See also

Serious smackdown.

Real-World Economics Review Blog
Key member of Swedish Academy of Sciences calls for immediate suspension of the “Nobel Prize for Economics”

Edward Fulbrook