Economics for peace : Léon Walras and the Nobel peace prize

Abstract

This paper is an account of the history of the attempt by Léon Walras to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1906. It describes Walras’ moves to get three of his Lausanne colleagues to nominate him for the Prize, the arguments advanced in the proposal, and the reception that it received by the Norwegian Peace Prize Committee in Kristiania (Oslo). It discusses whether Walras had realistic reasons to believe that he stood a real chance of winning the Prize, and it evaluates the validity of the arguments on which the proposal was based.