“The standard joke is if you take two economists, you get three points of view. It’s not like physics, where you can test things and then everyone can agree at the end of the test”
Economics is the only field in which two people can receive a Nobel Prize for saying exactly the opposite thing.
More jokes about economists
“The success of a country was inversely proportional to the number of economists” ~ Friedrich von Hayek
Alfred Nobel made no mention in his will of an economics prize
The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical work by the Caroline Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.
Full Text of Alfred Nobel’s Will
Mathematician and chaos theorist, Prof. Ralph Abraham at the University of California, Santa Cruz adds, “The prize in economics should be broadened in line with the full spectrum of social sciences to which it belongs and it should be distanced from the Nobel awards, like the Fields Medals in mathematics.”
http://www.hazelhenderson.com/editorials/abolishTheNobel.html
How to silence a Nobel Prize winning economist: Ask him about the economy.
Princeton news conference with Nobel Prize in economics winners
2 Nobel prize winning economists look stupid when asked about the economy
