Actually, it is the “Swedish Central Bank Prize in Economic Sciences” that was created “in memory” of Alfred Nobel…
The Nobel Prize in Economics? There Is No Nobel Prize in Economics
http://exiledonline.com/the-nobel-prize-in-economics-there-is-no-nobel-prize-in-economics/
Any of this sound familiar?
Promoters of central bank independence made their arguments in the language of neoclassical market efficiency. The problem was that few people in Sweden took their neoclassical babble very seriously, and saw their plan for central bank independence for what it was: an attempt to transfer control over economic matters from democratically elected government and place into the hands of big business interests, giving them a free hand in running Sweden’s economy without pesky interference from labor unions, voters and elected officials.
Of course, we already have an ‘independent’ central bank that is operated “without pesky interference from labor unions, voters and elected officials”. The whole article is interesting reading, though the author weakens his case mightily with this bit: “As of 2011, 10 out of the 69 economists who’ve won the fake Nobel prize are Koch-connected libertarians.” So, if the other 59 (or 85%) of the economists were mainstream and recognized by the community as strong, 15% of the prizes going to people who are losers isn’t that big a deal. Of course, of the bulk of the other 85% are also right-wing extremists then the author should provide some sort of documentation.
As for the validity of the prize, I am not deep enough into economics to know if the majority of the awardees are not worthy of the appellation. I am reasonably confident, though, that the field of economics lacks the sort of rigor that is associated with the standard STEM areas; generally the very first assumption that any economic model makes is that there is free and open knowledge and high levels of competition. That is almost never the case and that models ignore that hugely important element speaks volumes to me.
