Written by William F. Pickard   

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was commenced in 1969 and has since been awarded 44 times to 71 Laureates. Of the 71, 55 were affiliated with American institutions at the time of the award. Of the Nobel Laureates named since Bill Clinton left office, an astounding 23 out of 25 were affiliated with American institutions. As most of the 55 were also presumably turning out brilliant graduate students and raising the quality bar in enterprises and institutions all across our country, we should now be awash in economic talent. And our economy should be booming.

But arguably, our economy is not booming! Arguably, underemployment is alarmingly high. Arguably, too many sectors of the economy are dominated by mega-corporations that have lost their entrepreneurial zest: in fact, our government has bailed out a variety of them. Arguably, too many tax supported governmental units are in deep financial trouble, arguably of their own making. Arguably, income distribution is becoming ever more skewed against the 47%. Arguably, public educational institutions are being starved. Arguably, the nation’s civil infrastructure needs are going unmet. And arguably, the Federal Government, if not in a state of paralysis, is, at least, mighty sluggish.

So what went wrong?

Maybe fifteen years ago I heard a Nobel Laureate economist get asked in public why the underdeveloped world was so slow to develop. His response was along the lines of: “Economists know pretty well what to do to promote economic development. What economists don’t know is how to get governments to do it.” As I recall, he didn’t say WHY the right things weren’t being done. Normally I’d bet on sabotage by the usual suspects: Gaming the System, Type One Stupidity (severe information deficit), and Type Two Stupidity (insouciant disregard of the information available). But for America, it might just be that our Nobel Laureates are underemployed for what they’re good at: Economics. We have more than we know what to do with ?!? What a waste!

Now no one ever accused Nobel Laureates of being saints. But neither are they apt to be found among the Public’s usual suspects. So maybe what we need to do is to pack the President’s Council of Economic Advisors with them, pack the Federal Reserve with them, pack the Treasury with them, pack the SEC with them, and send the rest to Congress. I can’t imagine the public confidence ratings of those organizations sinking much lower than they are now!



William F. Pickard, older ‘n’ dirt, is a retiree from Washington University in Saint Louis, who specializes in energy matters.