Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals

Why don’t those in power listen to economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman?

More fundamental to their marginalization is the relative radicalism of what Krugman and Stiglitz are advocating in our conservative era, one in which even Democratic presidents have done little to reverse unconstrained finance, shrunken government, and deepening inequality. To embrace their wisdom would require something close to a political revolution. So two of our most lauded economists remain prophets with little power to change events. America would be a far healthier country if they broke through.

via Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals.

2010 Nobel Prize for Economics

The 2010 Nobel prize for economics is shared by three economists, Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, Christopher A. Pissarides, in the subdiscipline of labour economics for their work on how government policy affects unemployment. Their theories “help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies, and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy,” said the Academy in a statement.

Here are 7 books spanning the political spectrum by Nobel prize winners in Economics.

2009 Nobel Prize Winner — Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Ostrom, sharing with Oliver Williamson, has been granted the Nobel Prize in the field of Economics. Elinor has spend decades disproving the concept that private property is a superior model to efficient resource usage. Some of her published works are Governing the Commons and Local Commons and Global Interdependence. Congratulations to both of these recipients.

Elinor OstromE

2008 Nobel Prize Winner — Paul Krugman

I was pleased to hear this morning that Paul Krugman has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Paul is a professor of economics at Princeton University, syndicated columnist for the New York Times, and the author of Conscience of a Liberal. I highly recommend reading the book, which provides some historical prespective around why the United States has developed the political climate we now live in. His main focus seems to be Universal Healthcare, and he supports his case by linking it to other successfully implemented New Deal policies.