10 Dead Economists Who Deserve a Nobel Prize

10 Dead Economists Who Deserve a Nobel Prize

My friend Reuvain Borchardt, a lawyer, asks if it’s possible for a Nobel Prize to be awarded posthumously. What if unlimited posthumous economic Nobel awards were possible?My understanding (at least for the economics prize) is the following: a person loses his or her eligibility to win the prize come January 1st of the year following his or her death. So, for example, someone who dies on September 30th, 2017 will be eligible to win the 2017 Prize, but not in any following years.

My understanding might be mistaken, but I once heard the above explanation from what my memory says was a credible source. (Also, no Nobel in economics was ever so awarded posthumously, although William Vickrey died very soon after it was announced that he won it in 1996. He died before the December ceremonies in Stockholm.)

Anyway, Reuvain’s question got me to thinking: What if unlimited posthumous economic Nobel awards were possible? Who are the ten now-dead, non-laureate economists who I believe would be most deserving. My idiosyncrasies will be evident in my list:

1. Adam Smith (of course, and not just because his is the single most famous name in all of economics)
2. David Ricardo
3. Carl Menger
4. Alfred Marshall
5. Ludwig von Mises
6. Frank Knight
7. Aaron Director
8. Armen Alchian
9. Gordon Tullock
10. Julian Simon

The hardest name to leave off of this list of ten is a tie between Joseph Schumpeter and Knut Wicksell; a name that was quite easy to leave off is John Maynard Keynes.
Republished from Cafe Hayek.

Donald J. Boudreaux

Donald Boudreaux is a senior fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a Mercatus Center Board Member, a professor of economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University, and a former FEE president.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.