Thursday, September 09, 2004
Nobel Laureates on the Economy
The Wall Street Journal asks a clutch of Nobel laureate economists some pertinent questions about the state of the economy. The laureates include Milton Friedman, John Nash, Vernon Smith, Robert Solow, Ronald Coase, Joe Stiglitz, Ken Arrow and George Akerlof, among others. The questions are:
1. Which economy do you expect to be biggest 75 years from now: the U.S., the European Union or China?
2. Which country comes closest to getting economic policy right today, and why?
3. Who was the most important economist of the 20th century besides you?
4. Who deserved the Nobel but didn't get it?
5. What single breakthrough in economic thought in the past 50 years has had the most significant impact on the everyday lives of people, and why?
6. In what sphere of life, if any, do you think it most important to limit the influence of market forces?
7. What do you consider the world's single greatest economic challenge today?
8. Do you think the fruits of the global economy will be distributed more evenly 50 years from now, or less evenly, and why?
To Q1, the majority seem to think China will emerge as the largest economy, though the U.S. will continue to have a higher per-capita income. To Q2, almost all of them agree that the U.S. does *not* have the best economic policies. The consensus points in the general direction of Scandinavia. To Q3, even Milton Friedman thinks it's Keynes. To Q5, William Sharpe has a tie between Friedman's monetary theory and Keynes's macroeconomic theory, which even he admits are strange bedfellows. In response to the final question, some of them think that the rise of India and China will lead to a greater redistribution within the global economy.
1. Which economy do you expect to be biggest 75 years from now: the U.S., the European Union or China?
2. Which country comes closest to getting economic policy right today, and why?
3. Who was the most important economist of the 20th century besides you?
4. Who deserved the Nobel but didn't get it?
5. What single breakthrough in economic thought in the past 50 years has had the most significant impact on the everyday lives of people, and why?
6. In what sphere of life, if any, do you think it most important to limit the influence of market forces?
7. What do you consider the world's single greatest economic challenge today?
8. Do you think the fruits of the global economy will be distributed more evenly 50 years from now, or less evenly, and why?
To Q1, the majority seem to think China will emerge as the largest economy, though the U.S. will continue to have a higher per-capita income. To Q2, almost all of them agree that the U.S. does *not* have the best economic policies. The consensus points in the general direction of Scandinavia. To Q3, even Milton Friedman thinks it's Keynes. To Q5, William Sharpe has a tie between Friedman's monetary theory and Keynes's macroeconomic theory, which even he admits are strange bedfellows. In response to the final question, some of them think that the rise of India and China will lead to a greater redistribution within the global economy.
