The Nobel family never approved the economics prize as a whole

Evidence

Three days before the meeting of April 26, the then director of the Nobel Foundation, Nils Ståhle, met two members of the family and telephonically talked with a third one. Their position was that “it should not become like a sixth Nobel Prize,” but that if the economics prize could be kept clearly separate from the Nobel Prizes then it might be an acceptable idea. On May 10, Ståhle and the president of the Nobel Foundation, von Euler, visited the family’s eldest, Martha Nobel, then 87 years old—with severely impaired hearing but intellectually in good form. They obtained her written approval of the economics prize “under given conditions,” namely that the new prize in all official documents and statements should be kept separated from the Nobel prize, and called the “prize in economic science in memory of Alfred Nobel.” In a telephonic conversation with a nephew, Martha Nobel said that the whole thing was prearranged and impossible to oppose, so that one could only hope that they would keep their pledge that no confusion with the real Nobel prize should occur. There was no approval from the Nobel family as a whole. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 468

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the article on ‘The Real Kind, with Corpses’ and class/identity signaling — the manufactured consent behind a facade institution parallels those themes.
• QUESTION: The condition that it be called ‘in memory of Alfred Nobel’ — worth tracing how this branding choice shaped perceptions of the economics prize’s legitimacy.
• XREF: connects to: The Nobel economics prize was created to manufacture science-like prestige, not to honor it — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 475; The economics Nobel is a feigned imitation of the genuine award. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 470; Myrdal regretted accepting the 1974 Nobel and declared the economics prize a political act. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 521

Broader Connections

• The economics Nobel is a feigned imitation of the genuine award. #corroborates (0.88) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 470
• The Nobel economics prize was created to manufacture science-like prestige, not to honor it #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 475
• Myrdal regretted accepting the 1974 Nobel and declared the economics prize a political act. #exemplifies (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 521