China and Nobel Prize for Economics

China， as a big economy in the world， regards highly the economics since the reform and opening up. China also hosts hundreds of even thousands of economists， who never get related with the Nobel Prize， not even in the candidate list.

Gaps in Eight Standards

A look into the standards of the Nobel Prize for Economics could reveal the distance between Chinese economists and the Nobel Prize for Economics. Generally speaking， eight standards are following when deciding who are the laureates of Nobel Prize for Economics.

Firstly， the Nobel Prize for Economics covers microeconomics， macroeconomics， international economics and development economics；

Secondly， the research must be focused on the in the frontline subject under the market-oriented economic system and gives priority to the fundamental theories；

Thirdly， the prize favors these results which are creative， scientific and practi- cal， or those which can be influential towards the research and society （such as government’s decisions）；

Fourthly， the council prefers “constructive” economic findings to “destructive” findings. Those whose theories can let other economists climb to a higher position are more suitable candidates and the theoretical arguments are not encouraged if they can not drive the research；

Fifthly， the Nobel Prize takes a fancy towards the combination between theories and practice. Those results with actual practical value are fitting for the Nobel Prize；

Sixthly， those who keep spreading the economic theories extensively or develop economic theories into the interdisciplines across the economics are more likely to win the prize. And the prize also encourages the modern economic theories， especially the comprehension of economic theories with mathematic methods and models， which make the economics more precise and testable；

Seventhly， the economic theories with a complete theoretical system and a new academician structure are more favorable；

Eighthly， the economic theories that have been tested in the long-time practicality are better candidates than those emerging theories （that’s why most laureates are old economists）；

Looking into the eight standards， we can see why Chinese economists cannot win the Nobel Prize for Economics.

There are three types of economists in China： a）， the scholars for governmental officials and public organizations. These people are usually engaged in the administrative work and their research subjects are based on their positions； b）， professors working for universities. Most of economists in China are now professors or emeritus professors in universities， such as Li Yining， Zhang Weiying， Zhou Qiren and so on； c）， scholars that do not belong to any governmental， public or business organizations but are closely related with all these systems， such as Hua Sheng and Wang Yukun.

The Chinese economists have to face many objective difficulties， which stop them from marching towards the Nobel Prize for Economics.

At first， there are too few professional research teams of economists in China. Those who work for government and public organizations spend a lot of time doing their jobs and have little time to focus on real economic subjects.

Then， the huge and complicated background of Chinese economic reform does not possess a real and complete reference system for the market-oriented economy.

The background materials for the research into Chinese economy are also severely marred. The economic data and statistical materials seriously mismatch the real situation. The incomplete， fake and prejudiced data stands in the way of accurate and efficient economic research and many standards are left vacant at this moment.

The chaos is a result of the inconsistent criterion of statistics and the absence of some scientific standards. The variety of the levels of statisticians also leads to this situation. In addition， many local governments prefer to make the fake data to glorify their political performance. The difference of the economic body’s attribute also brings about problems for the economic study.

The Way They Exist

The Nobel Prize for Economics in 2007 was shared by Leonid Hurwicz， Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson who had laid the foundations of mechanism design theory.

Li Daokui， director of the Department of Finance of Tsinghua University， says that the academic achievements of these three Nobel laureates might be the most significant for China’s economic reform and are the easiest to be understood by Chinese people.

“The theory of Maskin is to solve the problem of how to make an economic system reach the designated target，” he says.

In order to realize the goal and maximize the efficiency， the system and mechanism should be designed carefully enough to make every participant work hard based on their own conditions. This is the social significance of Maskin’s academic results.

In Li Daokui’s opinion， the system of China’s economy before the reform is far from reaching the goal. The current system still has a certain gap from this goal， but it has already given people the opportunity to earn much more than before if they work hard.

Justin Yifu Lin as the Most Likely Candidate

This year is the 40th year since the Nobel Prize for Economics was estab- lished. In the past 40 years， four Chinese people （to be specifically， with Chinese blood） have been enlisted as candidates. Sho-Chieh Tsiang， Yang Xiaokai， Steven N. S. Chueng and Justin Yifu Lin. Tsiang and Yang had passed away while Justine Yifu Lin is the Chinese economist who is most likely to win the prize.

Justin Yifu Lin from Taiwan is the student of Theodore W Schultz， the Nobel laureates of economics in 1979. He was once the chief economist and senior vice president of World Bank. Many Nobel laureates had assumed that position. At the end of 2007， he delivered a speech in the Marshall Forum of UK Cambridge University， making him the first Chinese scholar that delivered speech in the top international economic forum. This forum started from 1964 and appointed one famous economist as the speech presenter each year. Among the 60 speech presenters， 14 have won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Justin Yifu Lin says that the Nobel laureates did not win the prize based on how complicated the logic is behind their theories； instead， they won because of the significance their theories have explained. Before the 1930s， most of the world-class economists came from England. After that the United States became the host country for most famous economists.

In Lin’s opinion， the annual GDP growth rate of China has already lured the world’s attention. Since such a situation is going to last 30 additional years， China is definitely going to have several world-class economists.

“The increasing contribution of China to the global economy is rewarded with the higher possibility of Chinese economists to win the Nobel Prize for Economics， because only Chinese economists can make clear of the economic problems in China，” he says.