"Per Gunnar Berglund" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sent this to the Post Keynesian list
FALSE PRIZE IN NOBEL'S NAME No economics prize was included in the will of Alfred Nobel. It was instigated by the Bank of Sweden, but is all too often featured as an official Nobel Prize. Alfred Nobel was basically an idealist and sceptical of business, write four of Nobel's relatives. We the signatories are the grandchildren of some of Alfred Nobel's brother Ludvig's children. They belonged to the siblings who stood unanimously behind their eldest brother-in-law Emanuel when he gave his full support to the executor of the will, Ragnar Sohlman, in his long and arduous struggle to make the last wishes of Alfred Nobel gain legal force. Neither Alfred nor Emanuel Nobel's correspondence - nor Ragnar Sohlman's 'A Testament, the History of the Nobel Foundation and its Founders' (Norstedts publishers, 1950) - give any indication that any of them would have opposed our criticising the fact that the 'Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel' is awarded as if it were a Nobel Prize. At the Bank of Sweden's tercentenary in 1968, a 'Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel' was instituted on the government's initiative. The Nobel Foundation consulted the only surviving of Ludvig Nobel's children, Dr. Marta Nobel-Olienikoff, who could not prevent the institution of the Prize, in spite of her being anything but enthusiastic about the proposition. She emphasized, however, that under no circumstances must the Prize be called a 'Nobel Prize'. The Nobel Foundation was thus cajoled to administer the awarding of the Prize, which ever since the following year has been concurrent with, and using the same ceremonies, as the awarding of the Nobel Prizes that Alfred Nobel had donated through his will. While it is true that the Bank of Sweden Prize is called by its right name at the ceremonies in the Concert Hall, little distinction is made between this Prize and the Nobel Prizes. Can it be characterised as anything but than deceptive that, e.g., members of the Royal Academy of Science's Committee for the Bank of Sweden Prize can publish and sell the lectures held by Economics Prize laureates in a volume entitled 'Nobel Lectures in Economic Sciences' (Stockholm: Stockholm University Press and Singapore: World Scientific, 1992) - even if this is uncalled for? An internet search the other day yielded 399 returns on the phrase 'Nobel Prize in Economics'. Out of these, many were derived from famous American universities. Only a few mentioned in a subtitle the 'official' name of the Prize. The Nobel Foundation has not visibly reacted upon the request by the Swedish Academy (1997) that the Economics Prize be awarded at a separate ceremony, nor upon the timid call, by some family members, for the Foundation to henceforth emphasise that the Economics Prizes are not Nobel Prizes. For the greater part of the world press, and thus for most uninitiated people, the Economics Prize has gradually become a Nobel Prize amongst the others, which is misleading. One forgotten objection to the name that the Economics Prize has obtained around the world does appear self-evident: Had Alfred Nobel really wanted something of the kind, then he would have mentioned it in his will. But the fact is he did not, and therefore the Bank of Sweden Prize should not be regarded a Nobel Prize. We propose, therefore, that the Nobel Foundation and all other Nobel Committees, when this Prize, in its abbreviated form, is mentioned before the press, other media, and the general public, correctly call it the 'Bank of Sweden Prize'. Perhaps that would amount to the 'Bank Prize' in common parlance? What, then, was Alfred Nobel's opinion about economic theorising? It is a paradox that he, while doubtless successful in economic terms, consequently spoke in negative or even sarcastic terms about such activity: "There is no reason whatsoever why I, who have no education in business and who detest it with all of my heart, should be tortured with all this business about which I know little more than does the Man in the Moon." In a reply to his brother Ludvig he stated as his biggest flaw that he 'did not worship Mammon'. His correspondence is tinted by these tones. Alfred Nobel did not wish to view himself as a wealthy industrialist, but as a scientist and inventor. The fundamental thought in Alfred Nobel's testament was that the Prizes should be awarded to those 'who in the year past have done mankind the greatest good'. It is a Swedish and indeed a global interest to safeguard the idealism that carries Alfred Nobel's will and the work carried out in its spirit. Signed by: Anders Ahlqvist, Professor, Galway, Ireland Johan Ahlqvist Professor, Västanfjärd, Finland John Hylton Jurist, QC, Toronto, Canada Peter Nobel Jur.Dr., h.c., Uppsala, Sweden -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
