This is the last expected prize of this 2021 edition of the Nobel.
This Monday, October 11, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will award the “
Nobel Prize
” in economics.
In October 2020, she had chosen to reward the Americans Robert Wilson and Paul Milgrom, judging that their work
"improved the theory of auctions and invented new formats"
for
"the benefit of sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world".
Their successor will receive the tidy sum of 10 million Swedish crowns, or nearly 990,000 euros.
Read also Jean-Pierre Robin: "
The Nobel Prize in economics is a royal road to becoming a centenary
"
Why is this prize not a real Nobel Prize?
Unlike the other award-winning disciplines, economics was not written into Alfred Nobel's will.
The “
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel
”, real name, was established in 1968 and is endowed by the Bank of Sweden itself.
Since then, this prize has been debated, even in the Nobel family.
In 2001, Peter Nobel spoke in the columns of
Le Monde diplomatique
on behalf of his ancestor to denounce a "
Royal Bank of Sweden which deposited its egg in the nest of another bird, very respectable, and thus violated the ' registered trademark 'Nobel.
"
How is the winner chosen?
Like the real Nobel Prizes, the Economics Prize is awarded by a specific committee within the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is made up of six members, all professors of economics or finance in different universities around the world, elected for a period of three years by the other members of the Academy. This committee chooses the winner (s) from the list of successful candidates.
To be eligible, an applicant must have had their application submitted by a person qualified by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. No one can submit their own candidacy. To propose a name for the candidates' examination, one must either be a member, Swedish or foreign, of the Academy; or be a member of the Economic Sciences Prize committee; to be a former winner; or, be a specialist professor at one of the universities in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland or Norway.
The winner is chosen, by secret ballot, by majority vote with a final decision, without appeal.
The Committee can reward up to three laureates per year and sets no age limit.
However, no prize can be awarded posthumously.
The award ceremony is set for December 10, 2015, in Stockholm, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
The overwhelming American supremacy
This prize is often criticized for mainly rewarding American and so-called "
orthodox
"
economists
.
The United States have indeed largely trusted this award with 55 representatives among the 86 recipients, and several belong to the Chicago School, of liberal inspiration.
For its part, France provided 4 recipients: Maurice Allais (1988), Gérard Debreu (1983), Jean Tirole (2014) and Esther Duflo (2019).
Since the first edition in 1969, only two women have been awarded: Esther Duflo and Elinor Ostrom (2009).
Finally, not all of the winners were economists since in 2002, for example, the prize was awarded to a psychologist, Daniel Kahneman.
