Nobel Prize in Economics is not a real Nobel prize

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Ha-Joon Chang, Economics : the user's guide, 2014

first published 2014

this paperback edition published 2015 

p.16

Economics is the study of rational human choice ... 

p.16

†  The Nobel Prize in Economics is not a real Nobel prize.  Unlike the original Nobel Prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, Literature and Peace), established by the Swedish industrialist Afred Nobel at the end of the 19th century, the economic prize was established by the Swedish central bank (Sveriges Riksbank) in 1968 and is thus officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. 

p.17

Economics is a study of rational choice, that is, choice made on the basis of deliberate, systematic calculation of the maximum extent to which the ends can be met by using the inevitably scarce means. 

p.153

Sometimes in the 1930s,

the office of the Gosplan, the central planning authority of the USSR

Interview for the post of the chief statistician

The first candidate is asked by the interview board, ‘What is 2 + 2, comrade?’

He answers: ‘5’. 

‘Comrade, we very much appreciate your revolutionary enthusiasm, but this job needs someone who can count.’  The first candidate is politely dismissed. 

The second candidate was asked, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’

He answer: ‘3’. 

‘Arrest that man! We cannot tolerate this kind of counter-revolutionary propaganda, under-reporting our achievements!’  The second candidate is dragged out of the room by the guards. 

The third candidate was asked the same question, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’

He answer: ‘Of course, it is 4’. 

A member of the board gives him a lecture on the limitation of bourgeois science, fixated on formal logic.  The third candidate is politely dismissed. 

The fourth candidate was asked the same question, ‘Comrade, What is 2 + 2?’

He answer: ‘How many do you want it to be?’

The fourth candidate is hired. 

Ha-Joon Chang, Economics : the user's guide, 2014

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