The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess. This does not matter in the natural sciences. Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to seize if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally. There is no reason why a man who has made a distinctive contribution to economic science should be omnicompetent on all problems of society - as the press tends to treat him till in the end he may himself be persuaded to believe.

I feared that such a prize, as I believe is true of the activities of some of the great scientific foundations, would tend to accentuate the swings of scientif…

On the other hand, the economists are at this moment called upon to say how to extricate the free world from the serious threat of accelerating inflation which…

I must confess that if I had been consulted whether to establish a Nobel Prize in economics, I should have decidedly advised against it.

There is no democracy in physics. We can't say that some second-rate guy has as much right to opinion as Fermi.

Hamilton is really a colossus... without numbers, he is a host unto himself.

If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these thi…