In his Nobel Banquet speech Hayek stated that he would have "decidedly advised against" the establishment of a Prize for economists because it "would tend to accentuate the swings of scientific fashion ... the Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess ... the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally ... I am therefore almost inclined to suggest that you require from your laureates an oath of humility, a sort of hippocratic oath, never to exceed in public pronouncements the limits of their competence."
The 'insights' behind the Prize often become deified. Is there sufficient interest to warrant a volume on the extra-scientific clout that Nobel laureates and their work carry: e.g.
Leontief: economic planning
various: deregulation of the financial sector
Scholes: LTCM
Coase Theorem: post-communist privatisation
Robert Leeson
Vol 1: The Keynesian Tradition (2008) Palgrave Macmillan http://us.macmillan.com/thekeynesiantradition
Vol 2: The Anti-Keynesian Tradition (2008) Palgrave Macmillan http://us.macmillan.com/theantikeynesiantradition
Vol 3: American Power and Policy (2009) Palgrave Macmillan http://us.macmillan.com/americanpowerandpolicy
Vol 4: Hayek and Behavioural Economics (2012)
Vol 5: Hayek: Biographical Studies (2012)
Vol 6: ?The Nobel Prize for Economic Science?