Recognition

Many other, much smarter, and more creative men, all with doctorates, tenured positions, and bestselling books (all three I highly recommend), have weighed in on the new winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Their entries are well thought out, debatable, entertaining, enlightening, and rigorous. Mine... not so much. But I just wanted to throw in my two cents anyway, as a "first-year" grad student (so it's my second first year... big deal). Furthermore, I've never actually met the guy, but that doesn't seem to stop most bloggers. So here is why Leonid Hurwicz deserves the Nobel, but not for any reason you'll read by researchers.

One of my favorite professors in my program sent out a blanket e-mail to the department, gloating that his old adviser at Minnesota had received the Nobel prize. He listed five other professors within our department who had been students of Prof. Hurwicz. I have had three of these professors in various undergraduate and graduate courses, and I can attest to their excellence in teaching. Their students have gone on to become teachers, who also have the funny habit of actually getting undergraduates interested in economics and turning them on to something they knew little about beforehand. Prof. Hurwicz has also been active in teaching (apparently more so than some who are half his age), and took the bus from Minneapolis to Kansas City in order to attend a seminar his former students had set up, two years ago.
I understand the Nobel is mostly recognition of research. But it's also recognition of contribution. Prof. Hurwicz, without my even knowing until just recently, has strongly influenced my development as an economist, a student, and a researcher. There are countless others who can say the same. I'd say that's a pretty big contribution.

Perhaps the overall contribution is debatable, and many of course will argue the same age-old macro/micro, policy/theory issues. But for a lot of people, the micro changes that this man caused led to a rippling down, from the 1930's all the way to today. Good teachers are too rare these days. Good professors (in the teaching and not the research sense) are even more rare. He got the Nobel for his research, and its effect on economic thought today. He deserves the Nobel for the imprint he's left on his students, and their students, and their students, etc.

From what I understand, the other two gentlemen to win have similar track records, and are all agreed to be "very nice men." I just don't really have any connection to them. Sorry Prof.'s Maskin and Myerson. Maybe someday I'll have a reason to write about how cool you guys are too. But as it is... I got nothing.

Just stating for the record who also deserves a Nobel then:

My 7th grade math teacher, my high school English teacher, a few of my Spanish professors in undergraduate, and my analysis prof. who sounded like Cheech. They deserve some kind of recognition for putting up with my laziness in their class. Why not?