Dear All:

The 2008 Nobel prize for economic sciences will be announced on Monday, October 13, 2008.

Background

For those who are new on my Readers & Thinkers list, I have been predicting and following the Nobel prize in economics for many years now for the fun of it. I also like to keep many people, who normally don’t think about economics and its contributions, informed.

Last Year’s Winner

Last year, the prize was given to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin, and Roger B. Myerson for “for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory”.

Who will win in 2008?

Each year it’s getting more difficult to predict, mainly because the list of people that have made significant contributions to the economic sciences is shrinking. Anyone who wishes to vote on their pick can vote at my website. So far, the candidate favored by the people who have voted is Jagdish Bhagwati. There are also user comments on why the like a particular candidate. All users are anonymous – so don’t worry.

The categories that I think are most ripe for the award are History, Finance, Public Finance, and International Economics. Finance might not get it this year for political reasons. 😉

And there is always the chance that they give it a field that’s never won it, like Environmental Economics. But who in the world would you give it to then? Nordhaus and Weitzman?

This year, I am torn between three fields, but I will only list my first two picks:

1. Peter Diamond, Martin Feldstein, and Alan Auerbach (maybe)

[Public Finance]

2. Dale Jorgenson, William Nordhaus, and Marty Wietzman

[Environmental/Energy]

Sincerely,

Ludwig

p.s. Feel free to enter your picks on my website.

p.p.s. I sent a letter to members of the House and further discussed my disappointment with the failure of the bill to pass. A version of that letter is on my website under Readers & Thinkers/Anything Goes.