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Paul G. Ellis points out that if the award of Nobel prizes this century is quantified per capita, then the US lead over other countries seems rather less impressive (¡°And the awards go to¡­¡±, Letters, 13 August). Moreover, it should be noted that the majority of US awards are for ¡°economic sciences¡±. Leaving aside the issue of whether economics is any more a science than astrology, many people (including the Nobel family) question whether the prize for economics should be recognised as a Nobel prize at all. It was not part of Alfred Nobel¡¯s original dispensation, and was established by the Swedish central bank only in 1968. The prize has consistently been awarded to orthodox neoclassical, free-market economists and people who invent supposedly foolproof algorithms for stock-market speculation. It is no surprise, therefore, that American economists have garnered the greatest number of ¡°Nobel¡± prizes for their country.

Nicholas Till
Leverhulme research fellow, University of Sussex