Nobel Prize Committee And Senator Shelby Disagree Over Economist Qualifications

The Nobel Prize committee decided today that Peter Diamond, along with Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides, deserved an award for their contributions to economic science. One person who probably isn’t uncorking champagne to that news? Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), whose infinite wisdom was responsible for blocking Mr. Diamond from joining the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. What did the Republican Senator from Alabama see that the international Nobel committee didn’t? He felt that Diamond — a lowly MIT professor who had helped mentor Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — was unqualified for the job.

Despite having been nominated by President Obama and vouched for by Paul Krugman — two men with their own Nobel Prizes, of course — Sen. Shelby remained unconvinced. He felt that Diamond’s expertise on our struggling labor market was lacking. But back in Sweden, the Nobel committee is thanking the professor for his “work on markets where buyers and sellers have difficulty finding each other, in particular in labor markets.” I’m no Nobel winner myself, but I can deduce one thing from that phrase: neither is Sen. Richard Shelby.

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