Hey guys, have been thinking about something and though I would toss it out here. Recently had a landmark birthday and am having a bit of a mid-life crisis, lol. Been trying to specify my bucket list a bit as the years are starting to fly by. One of those things I have always had in the back of my mind is the prospect of winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. I guess I always assumed that it would happen when it happens, but at this point I haven't even sniffed being nominated. So it may be time to get serious and strategize a bit. Have been doing some research and have been taken aback at a few things. Did you know that well over 99% of the population has never won? Really surprising to me, it seems way more common then that. so this may be a bit harder then I thought.

Have any of you guys (or your friends) won a Nobel? What kind of advice would you give? I am willing to consider going back to school if necessary, from my research it looks like a formal background and degree in Economics is extremely common, so that might be a weak spot for me.

I laughed pretty hard.

I do know a Nobel winner in Economics, and he's a tenured professor at Columbia and has published both academic and popular treatises, so that's how you do that, yeah.

Try writing some pseudo-intellectual bull**** which justifies rich people screwing over everyone else.

All I know about economics comes from playing Drug Wars back in the day. Think the key is to buy a big trenchcoat early so you got plenty of inventory slots and then wait for a fire sale on cocaine in the midgame. Hope this helps.

Wow, that is amazing. Would you mind forwarding him a few questions for me?

1. How much time per week should you budget working towards the award? is this something you can realistically do while working full-time?

2. Likewise, how much of your award do you credit to hard work as opposed to networking or who-you-know?

3. How good do I have to be at Excel? I barely made it through an hour of the Lynda.com course and I swear I was getting nosebleeds, lol. Seriously though, any way I can cut the fat here?

4. What do you use to make your graphs? I've been working with MSPaint but they always come out looking sloppy. Will the committee penalize me if I outsource some of this?

5. If so many people want to win one of these, why do they give you a big cash prize? Shouldn't this be the other way around? It seems like this would keep prospective Nobel suppliers from entering the market, correct?

Many thanks.

Actually I can do those.

1. You can certainly crack it while working full-time, provided you work full-time as an economist.

2. You never claim any credit when making your Nobel acceptance speech. You act like it just fell into your lap and then witter on your pet topics.

3. Excel doesn't even come into it. An ability to use Excel means you aren't a genius and will never achieve anything of note.

4. You sort of have to write books rather than draw graphs. You might for instance consult Keynes's bestseller The Economic Consequences of the Peace or Joe's book on globalisation for tips.

5. They hand out the cash because that's what Alfred Nobel's will tells them to do. No option, legally.

Thanks, very interesting. I will definitely check out those books.

Do you know if candidates are subject to a credit check?

OP have you ever considered pursuing an IG-Nobel prize?

Wanted to update everyone on this thread while this forum is still around lol. I talked to my wife about this last spring and she was shocked that I would want to try this when I have never worked in Economics. She suggested that maybe I try for the Chemistry prize instead as it is a much better match for my career, especially since my work in mechanistic enzymology has gotten a lot of attention internationally already. I had to admit she made a pretty good point, so I decided to table the econ award for a while.

Anyway, I worked with my collaborators to put a package together for the nomination committee and we are feeling pretty optimistic. Fingers crossed!

i plan on 3-peating the econ one in the 20s. good luck.

What a blast from the past. Is that game still available?

Coming up with an airtight way of winning the Nobel Prize will probably qualify to for the Nobel Prize