Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0

Author-Name: Dietmar Meyer
Author-Workplace-Name: German-language Andrássy University Budapest
Author-Email: dietmar.meyer@andrassyuni.hu

Title: Optimising Nobel Prize Laureates

Abstract: The Nobel Prize, which has existed since 1901, is awarded to persons (and on rare
occasion to institutions) who have achieved outstanding results in physics, chemistry,
medicine, literature and the pursuit of peace. The history of the Nobel Prize in
Economic Sciences – awarded for the first time in 1969 and officially known as the
‘Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel’ – shows
a slightly different picture, since in the first two decades it was awarded to still
living “doyens” of this branch of science (Frisch, Tinbergen, Hicks, Myrdal, Hayek,
Haavelmo, Coase – just to mention a few of them). In recent years, this prize serves
primarily for the recognition of research results: In 1994, 2005, 2007, 2012 and
2014 the prize was awarded to scientists excelling in various game theories, in 1996
and 2001 to experts working in the field of asymmetric information, and in 2002
to experts researching the link between psychology and economic science. In 2010
and 2016, the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded in the field of labour
market analysis and contract theory, respectively. It appears as if the Committee
awarding the prize first chose a generally topical subject matter and then award
the Prize to experts who are successful and produce outstanding results in that
field. 2018 was no exception. Although the laudation of the two laureates – William
Nordhaus and Paul Romer – mentions their excellent scientific achievement, as they
received the Prize “for their work analysing the impact of climate change on global
economy, and related to the endogenous growth theory”, a more detailed analysis
shows that here again there is a very strong link between the two scientists in terms
of content and methodology, since the problem of sustainability and the application
of the optimisation procedures, mentioned in the title, also connects them.

Classification-JEL: B22, O40, O44
Keywords: endogenous growth theory, sustainability, climate change
Pages: 125-141
Volume: 18
Issue: 1
Year: 2019
File-URL: http://english.hitelintezetiszemle.hu/letoltes/fer-18-1-e1-meyer.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:mnb:finrev:v:18:y:2019:i:1:p:125-141