The economics prize is funded by Sveringes Riksbank but they are not involved in selecting a winner. Neither is the government. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is solely responsible for selecting the winner, and it is not part of government.
Here’s the thing about economics: the “dismal science” is often trying to prove - or disprove - what appears to be common sense.
For instance, to some it’s common sense that minimum wage increases cause more unemployment. To others, it’s common sense that they don’t. Eventually economists will reach a consensus, and it will be “not news” to half the population.
Since you’ve done research in this field, you must be aware that Acemoglu and Robinson have been publishing on this topic for ~20 years. Is there some earlier economist who was not properly given credit for their results?
My dude, generations historians, economists, and social critics from India and across sub-Saharan Africa have discussed these issues at length. There are libraries full of diverse works on the subject. The erasure of all that is on-brand for the Nobel Prize in Economics (which even Hayek said shouldn’t exist in his own acceptance speech) and frankly on-brand for the Western academy as a whole.
The prize is for research in economics, not history or social science. They may be interested in the same topics, but economists usually take longer to reach a conclusion because their work is usually more data-driven.
Hence their conclusions appear to be “not news” to historians and social scientists who already believed the same things without the benefit of economic data.
We really need to avoid this thinking–again, one of Hayak’s concern about this particular prize–that any of it comes down to “one person” or one set of research.
For instance, there’s no scientific “answer” to whether minimum wage causes more unemployment because it’s not a simplistic, binary question. It depends on a wide variety of social factors that are largely untestable, unfalsifiable, etc. The question itself is based on deep ideological assumptions (eg. it’s desirable for people to be even more used/employed).
The issue of living wages is a social issue around basic human needs. Many and maybe most economists are paid precisely to justify the denial of human needs. That’s what econ is really about. So there will never be any consensus on this phony “issue”.
As a quick semi-aside: 20 years isn’t that long in academic research, and it’s especially not that long when we’re talking about colonialism/post-colonialism. It’s a tremendous amount of time in the hard sciences I’m told but it’s a mistake to apply that lens here.
The economics prize is funded by Sveringes Riksbank but they are not involved in selecting a winner. Neither is the government. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is solely responsible for selecting the winner, and it is not part of government.
Here’s the thing about economics: the “dismal science” is often trying to prove - or disprove - what appears to be common sense.
For instance, to some it’s common sense that minimum wage increases cause more unemployment. To others, it’s common sense that they don’t. Eventually economists will reach a consensus, and it will be “not news” to half the population.
Since you’ve done research in this field, you must be aware that Acemoglu and Robinson have been publishing on this topic for ~20 years. Is there some earlier economist who was not properly given credit for their results?
My dude, generations historians, economists, and social critics from India and across sub-Saharan Africa have discussed these issues at length. There are libraries full of diverse works on the subject. The erasure of all that is on-brand for the Nobel Prize in Economics (which even Hayek said shouldn’t exist in his own acceptance speech) and frankly on-brand for the Western academy as a whole.
The prize is for research in economics, not history or social science. They may be interested in the same topics, but economists usually take longer to reach a conclusion because their work is usually more data-driven.
Hence their conclusions appear to be “not news” to historians and social scientists who already believed the same things without the benefit of economic data.
If you’ll recall I did mention that postcolonial economists have been discussing this issue.
You did. Is there one economist in particular who you think contributed more to this field than the actual winners?
We really need to avoid this thinking–again, one of Hayak’s concern about this particular prize–that any of it comes down to “one person” or one set of research.
South America also has a huge body of work on this.
Here’s the thing: Economics is not a science.
For instance, there’s no scientific “answer” to whether minimum wage causes more unemployment because it’s not a simplistic, binary question. It depends on a wide variety of social factors that are largely untestable, unfalsifiable, etc. The question itself is based on deep ideological assumptions (eg. it’s desirable for people to be even more used/employed).
The issue of living wages is a social issue around basic human needs. Many and maybe most economists are paid precisely to justify the denial of human needs. That’s what econ is really about. So there will never be any consensus on this phony “issue”.
As a quick semi-aside: 20 years isn’t that long in academic research, and it’s especially not that long when we’re talking about colonialism/post-colonialism. It’s a tremendous amount of time in the hard sciences I’m told but it’s a mistake to apply that lens here.
That’s kind of my point. They didn’t come up with their ideas yesterday, so you shouldn’t expect the results to appear groundbreaking today.
Ah, gotcha. We’re talking at cross-purposes a bit I think.
Thank you for being civil through this; I genuinely appreciate that and it’s nice to meet someone else who cares about these issues.