Nobel prizes drive me nuts. They take far too long to be awarded, and cannot be awarded to the deceased. Einstein got his in (I think) 1919 for work he did in 1905. They awarded him for the photoelectric effect because (special) relativity was still considered too controversial.

Robert A Mundell received his award in Economics in 1999. This was for work done in the 1960’s. Mundell studied the effects of fixed and variable exchange rates, and is credited with the foundational theory of the Euro zone. But he waited over thirty years for his award.

Nobel prizes drive me nuts for another reason. They seem to be awarded by some random popularity contest, at best. I will give a few examples of this in the Peace Prize:

Obama received his peace prize in 2009 at the beginning of his presidency. I maintain that was a bit previous for a newly minted president.

Arafat, Perez, and Rabin jointly received their peace prize in 1994. You will notice how much more peaceful Israel and Palestine have been since then.

I question the integrity of all four prizes. Einstein should have got his for relativity. Mundell should have got his decades sooner, even if it turns out the Euro zone isn’t heaven after all. Obama was a great president, but nobody in 2009 knew that yet. The 1994 joint peace prize does not merit discussion.

I want you to think about this prize-giving organization funded by the invention of dynamite.

• Does it take far too long to award the prizes, at least some of the time?
• Does it look ‘just too comfortable’ for some of the prizes?
• Is the process (selection, awarding) worth our respect?

Those are your dumb questions.