lutherblsstt
Guest
https://www.adbusters.org/files/downloads/pdfs/adb_poster_nobel_foundation.pdf
The Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences are recalling the following Nobel Prizes, as we
have determined that they were not merited and should
never have been awarded.
We regret any inconvenience
and suffering that granting these prizes may have caused
by giving the flawed economic theories propounded by the
individuals in question unwarranted credibility and influence
on public policy.
Further recalls may be necessary – this
initial step only addresses our most egregious errors.
Milton Friedman
University of Chicago, 1976
Original reasons for award: “Macroeconomics:
for his achievements in the fields of consumption
analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his
demonstration of the complexity of stabilization
policy.”
Reason for recall: Friedman was the 20th century’s
most prominent supporter of laissez-faire capitalism.
Whatever the empirical evidence, he fervently
believed that unregulated markets would lead to
socially desirable outcomes. His naïve belief in
the invisible hand and his bias against government
spending made him argue that government’s role
should be largely limited to that of policeman, judge
and jailer. Friedman was a monetarist obsessed
with controlling inflation who disregarded the social
harm caused when monetary policy led to high
unemployment levels. The application of his laissezfaire
ideology has led to great harm around the
world.
Gary S. Becker
University of Chicago, 1992
Original reasons for award: “Microeconomics and
Economic Sociology: for having extended the
domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of
human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket
behavior.”
Reason for recall: We have concluded that Becker’s
efforts to extend rational choice theory into all aspects
of human activity turned out to be the extension of
defective and highly ideological theory, which led to
flawed policies and needless harm. His models were
based on assuming that all individuals are always
rational and that they constantly seek to maximize
their utility in every aspect of their lives and ignored
a host of factors that contribute to social problems.
Noted feminist economist Barbara Bergmann has
described Becker’s claims as “so preposterous that
there is not much danger of their being believed
and acted on – always excepting the committee
that awards Nobel Prizes in Economics.”
With this recall, we demonstrate that we will no longer allow
ourselves to be duped by absurd theory dressed up
in elegant math.
Robert M. Solow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
Original reasons for award: “Economic Growth
Theory: for his contributions to the theory of economic
growth.”
Reason for recall: Since we awarded Solow the prize,
it has become abundantly clear that his growth model
was so simplistic that it was highly misleading.
His model explained growth by assuming that only capital
and labor inputs and technical progress were relevant,
and it failed to include natural resources or energy –
as if cars could be made out of tools, workers and
knowledge, but without any steel, rubber or fossil
fuels.
Solow thereby sent economics down a blind
alley that has misled economists and politicians into
failing to understand that growing economies imply
growing demands on the biosphere and worsening
environmental degradation.
To this day, neoclassical growth models inspired by Solow remain fatally
flawed from a biophysical perspective.
The Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences are recalling the following Nobel Prizes, as we
have determined that they were not merited and should
never have been awarded.
We regret any inconvenience
and suffering that granting these prizes may have caused
by giving the flawed economic theories propounded by the
individuals in question unwarranted credibility and influence
on public policy.
Further recalls may be necessary – this
initial step only addresses our most egregious errors.
Milton Friedman
University of Chicago, 1976
Original reasons for award: “Macroeconomics:
for his achievements in the fields of consumption
analysis, monetary history and theory, and for his
demonstration of the complexity of stabilization
policy.”
Reason for recall: Friedman was the 20th century’s
most prominent supporter of laissez-faire capitalism.
Whatever the empirical evidence, he fervently
believed that unregulated markets would lead to
socially desirable outcomes. His naïve belief in
the invisible hand and his bias against government
spending made him argue that government’s role
should be largely limited to that of policeman, judge
and jailer. Friedman was a monetarist obsessed
with controlling inflation who disregarded the social
harm caused when monetary policy led to high
unemployment levels. The application of his laissezfaire
ideology has led to great harm around the
world.
Gary S. Becker
University of Chicago, 1992
Original reasons for award: “Microeconomics and
Economic Sociology: for having extended the
domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of
human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket
behavior.”
Reason for recall: We have concluded that Becker’s
efforts to extend rational choice theory into all aspects
of human activity turned out to be the extension of
defective and highly ideological theory, which led to
flawed policies and needless harm. His models were
based on assuming that all individuals are always
rational and that they constantly seek to maximize
their utility in every aspect of their lives and ignored
a host of factors that contribute to social problems.
Noted feminist economist Barbara Bergmann has
described Becker’s claims as “so preposterous that
there is not much danger of their being believed
and acted on – always excepting the committee
that awards Nobel Prizes in Economics.”
With this recall, we demonstrate that we will no longer allow
ourselves to be duped by absurd theory dressed up
in elegant math.
Robert M. Solow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
Original reasons for award: “Economic Growth
Theory: for his contributions to the theory of economic
growth.”
Reason for recall: Since we awarded Solow the prize,
it has become abundantly clear that his growth model
was so simplistic that it was highly misleading.
His model explained growth by assuming that only capital
and labor inputs and technical progress were relevant,
and it failed to include natural resources or energy –
as if cars could be made out of tools, workers and
knowledge, but without any steel, rubber or fossil
fuels.
Solow thereby sent economics down a blind
alley that has misled economists and politicians into
failing to understand that growing economies imply
growing demands on the biosphere and worsening
environmental degradation.
To this day, neoclassical growth models inspired by Solow remain fatally
flawed from a biophysical perspective.
