ABSTRACT
I assume that the prize is proffered in recognition of notable advances in economic sci ence. But since Myrdal and Hayek have been advancing in opposite directions for the past fifty years, this leaves the committee with some explaining to do. In physics, chemistry, and medicine, I don’t doubt that, aside from petty professional jealousies, general agreement prevails in the respective fields that Nobel laureates have made some laudable contribution to the storehouse of human knowledge. No one could assert that about both Myrdal and Hayek and be adjudged sane by an impartial panel of specialists. Myrdal has spent his life blasting the free market as a snare and a delusion, while Hayek has spent his blasting all attempts to manage the free market as the work of the devil. The conclusion ineluctably follows that the Nobel committee is collectively insane.
