Text 3
The Nobel prize in economics had a difficult birth. It was created in 1969 to
mimic thefive prizes initiated under Alfred Nobel's will. These had already been
around for 68 years, andpurists fought hard to stop the newcomer. Some members of
the Royal Swedish Academy ofSciences still dismiss economics as unscientific, and
its prize as not a proper Nobel. Earlywinners were among the prize's fiercest
critics. Gunnar Myrdal, who shared the award in 1974,said the prize ought to be
abolished (but he did not return the money). Milton Friedman, winnerin 1976,
doubted the ability of a few people in Stockholm to make decisions respected
aroundthe world.
By the 1990s, the Nobel committee had gained a reputation for intransigence.
GaryBecker won only after a flood of nominations forced the cabal in Stockholm
to act. The fathersof game theory won only after Mr Nash's sudden recovery from
paranoid schizophrenia,though the disease had no bearing on the quality of his
work, the best of which was done beforehe became ill. Robert Lucas received a
prize that many economists believed he should have hadmuch earlier. In 1998, the
prize became the subject of countless jokes after the collapse ofLong-Term Capital
Management, a hedge-fund firm whose founders included Robert Mertonand Myron
Scholes, the 1997 Nobel laureates.
The Merton/Scholes choice also highlighted another enduring problem with the
prize:untimely deaths. Fischer Black, co-originator of the options-pricing model
for which MessrsMerton and Scholes were recognised, died a year too soon to join
his collaborators on thepodium. Last year, many economists hoped that Zvi
Griliches, a noted econometrician who wasunquestionably deserving of the prize,
and was suffering from a long illness, would win. He didnot, and died soon
afterwards. Because the prize came into being so late, there is still a backlogof
elderly luminaries waiting to be recognised. Paul Samuelson, one of the younger
winners,and Mr Becker, who was a friend of Griliches, want the committee to take
old age explicitlyinto account.
The committee could also cast its net more widely across the profession.
Almost ail the laureates are also theoreticians; advances in empirical work and
applications in the past two decades have yet to be paid due respect, a fact
bemoaned by Mr Becker. Mr Samuelson adds
that the economics committee's selection methods have excessively mimicked those
used for
the prizes in natural sciences: "If the right apple fell on your head, and you saw
it, then you got
the prize. But if you had a lifetime of excellence in all branches of physics, you
didn't get it."
31. From the first paragraph, we learned that
[A] the Nobel prize in economics was created under Alfred Nobel's will.
[B] Gunnar Myrdal was one of the Nobel prize winners in economics.
[C] Milton Friedman refused to accept the prize.
[D]the Nobel committee had not the ability to make decisions.
32. We can learn from the text that about the winners of the Nobel prize in
economics during 1990s,
[A] Gary Becker won the prize after he forced the committee to act.
[B]Mr Nash's illness delayed his receiving of the prize.
[C]obert Lucas received the prize earlier than expected.
[D] Robert Merton and Myron Scholes played jokes on the prize.
33. According to the text, the author's attitude toward Nobel prize in economics
is
[A]doubtful.
[B]positive.
[C] hostile.
[DJ indifferent.
34. From the third paragraph, we learn that
[A] Fisher Black did not live long enough to win the Nobel prize.
[B] the Nobel committee will soon take old age into account.
[C] younger people are more likely to win the prize.
[D] Zvi Griliches won the prize after he died.
35. In the last paragraph of the text, Mr Samuelson's attitude toward the
economics committee's selection methods is
[A] critical.
[B] approving.
[C] angry.
[D] ironic.