Posted by Guy LUXE on September 16, 1999 at 07:35:38:
Very few people know that one of the first recipient of the Peace Nobel Prize was an economist (PY); The great economist Leon WALRAS was also proposed for this prize. So far no one was sufficiently great to receive both the Nobel Prize of Economics and Peace. That is until this year. This year's Nobel Prize of Economics and Peace will be awarded to Michael SCHMILBLICK for his pioneering contributions in mechanism design and for his method of conflict resolution among generations. Needless to say that the debates were hot among the Nobel Committee. In particular the committee was split between Svobodan MILOSEVIC and Michael SCHMILBLICK. The end of the conflict in Yugoslavia has shown the clear inferiority of Svobodan in comparison to Michael who has been able to fuel it for 30 years in his own department! Anyway when Svobodan heard that he was in competition with MICHAEL he immediately very sportily resigned and called Michael to encourage him. The tone was so cordial between the two men that the phone call lasted all night! Let us hope that this be the beginning of a long lasting friendship.
Stockholm has just repaired an injustice in awarding the Prizes to Michael SCHMILBLICK and has recognized Michael SCHMILBLICK's priority in the suppression of the 24 Hours lecture in History of Economic Thought of the famous Concours d'Agrégation of the Faculty of Economics of the French University. (How posterity will judge the ungratefulness of his colleagues (unable or unwilling to recognize the genius of others) who pretended falsely that they were responsible for this suppression!)
Indeed, the suppression of the 24 Hours lecture in History of Economic Thought is a direct application of the "Is-no-good mechanism", Michael SCHMILBLICK's great contribution. According to the "Is-no-good mechanism" everything can be partitioned in two categories: those that are good and those that are not. Now, it is well known that the 24 Hours lecture in History of Economic Thought is not good hence it must be cancelled! In these days were economic theory is said to be too abstract and deprived of any application, this is the example of a perfectly general mechanism and at the same time of great practical use. Indeed it has often been compared, for its simplicity and formal beauty, to the First Theorem of welfare Economics.
However beautiful is the "Is-no-good mechanism" it offers only a partial ordering over social outcomes. If there is no unanimity over the ordering between alternatives A and B the “is-no-good mechanism” cannot be unambiguously applied. That was not the case with the 24 Hours lecture in History of Economic Thought (technically speaking, except for a set of null measure).
However, the genius of Michael SCHMILBLICK could not be satisfied with such an incomplete mechanism. The attempt to overcome this shortcoming was to take Michael many years and many efforts. This is the hallmark of the true scholar. Many would have satisfied themselves with the first mechanism, which was enough for eternal fame. But, thank god, not Michael. The idea behind the "Michael-is-right-mechanism” can be simply put as this: All others’ orderings do not have to be taken in consideration, as the others are not good. When used with the "Is-no-good mechanism" it gives a complete ordering of any social problem. The most striking application of Michael‘s mechanisms (and the reason why he was awarded the peace Nobel Prize) concern the burning issue of the conflict between generations.
Whereas the “Is-no-good” mechanism is formally very simple the "Michael-is-right-mechanism” is very technical. Notably, it is based on the separation of big cones. That is the reason why it has often been compared to the Second Theorem of Welfare Economics. These comparisons are especially right in the sense that both mechanisms, (the "Is-no-good-mechanism” and the "Michael-is-right-mechanism”, have been successfully employed many times by Michael SCHMILBLICK for his own welfare or for that of his family.
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