The economics profession erased its own history, enabling false innocence about the ersatz Nobel.

Evidence

Another objective of the ersatz Nobel in the 1970s was therefore to raise the level of scientific credibility of the MPS within the postwar economics profession. That is why Lindbeck’s subsequent denial that “the selection committee viewed the award as a chance to influence the direction of new research in economics” is utterly unavailing, once one examines the historical record in greater detail. The general level of denial in this respect (usually paired with an unwillingness to acknowledge the ersatz status of the economics “Nobel”) has spread throughout much of the modern economics profession, especially after the history of economic thought has been summarily banished from orthodox economics departments worldwide. It has gotten so bad that even Nobel laureates can spout the most misleading rubbish, secure in the conviction that no one will ever call them out on their ignorance: So far as I know, the MPS never produced and distributed an agreed public statement of its program. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 502

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘banishment of history of economic thought’ claim connects to the broader treatment of ideas in Mirowski and Plehwe’s edited volume. — connects to: The ersatz Nobel Prize steered economics toward one ideological species while denying that intent — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 478; The economics profession is actively erasing the memory of its own crisis failures. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 457; The economics Nobel is a feigned imitation of the genuine award. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 470 (+1 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: A profession that deliberately deletes its own intellectual history is structurally incapable of self-awareness about its biases — a dense, unsettling point about disciplinary epistemology.

Broader Connections

• The ersatz Nobel Prize steered economics toward one ideological species while denying that intent #expands (0.82) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 478
• The economics profession is actively erasing the memory of its own crisis failures. #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 457
• The economics Nobel is a feigned imitation of the genuine award. #expands (0.78) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 470
• The 1974 Nobel pairing hid a neoliberal project to legitimize the Mont Pèlerin Society #expands (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 525