This research project investigates the influence of economic doctrines on policy norms in recent decades through analysis of the history of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
The Nobel Memorial Prize defines high achievement in economics and validates the discipline’s claim for scientific authority. Yet, historically it can be understood as a reflection of domestic policy conflicts in Sweden. In the 1970s-90s, the prize committee was dominated by Assar Lindbeck and lent authority to his domestic liberal policy agenda. Likewise, outside Sweden, between the 1970s and the 1990s, the prize tended to reinforce a market-liberal policy agenda. This project analyzes the extent to which the selection of a Nobel winner played a role in the advancement of theoretical and policy agendas in other countries, especially the USA.
