vote for derangement

[mellowtigger]

So should people be held to moral responsibility for their intellectual acts?  I think so.  That instinct is what drives a lot of politics, I think.

Well, now you have the opportunity to vote in a poll to determine who wins responsibility for contributing most to the recent global financial collapse.  It was previously called the "Ignoble Prize in Economics", but I figure that somebody rightfully complained about use of that name and the confusion that would ensue.  This poll is now called the "Dynamite Prize in Economics".

There are 10 selections from which to choose.  Pick 3 of them.  Each includes a short explanation to justify their inclusion on the list.  You may vote here:
http://rwer.wordpress.com/vote-here-for-the-dynamite-prize-in-economics/

I kept wanting to choose someone to blame for getting the whole concept of economics wrong, but really this poll is limited only to the recent financial problems.  It took me a while to decide who should get "kudos" for that.

I finally decided to blame Milton Friedman, Larry Summers, but especially Eugene Fama's "efficient market hypothesis" as the central failure.

In finance, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are "informationally efficient", or that prices on traded assets (e.g., stocks, bonds, or property) already reflect all available information, and instantly change to reflect new information.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis

In other words, baseball trading cards are valuable because they have a price tag attached to them.  Never doubt the price tag.  Hooey.

Comments

[litch.livejournal.com]

I chose Greenspan, Portes, and Summers, ultimately a theorist is just doing their job if the propound a theory that turns out to be incorrect. Those three were actually responsible for developing and implementing economic policy.

Personally I think the University of Chicago should have been nominated. As a group they produced some of the worst ideas that drove the economy into flaming shit.

[mellowtigger]

Most people agreed with our Summers estimation, although your Greenspan choice was far more popular than my Fama selection. :)

Winners (losers), in order, are:

Alan Greenspan (5,061)
Milton Friedman (3,349)
Larry Summers (3,023)
Fischer Black and Myron Scholes (2,016)
Eugene Fama (1,668)
Paul Samuelson (1,291)
Robert Lucas (912)
Richard Portes (433)
Edward Prescott and Finn E. Kydland (403)
Assar Lindbeck (375)