Tagged: Nobel

This is no ordinary family heirloom.

The granddaughter of English scientist Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who passed away in 2004, is putting his Nobel Prize medal up on the auction block.

Giving the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union has been controversial.

As The Associated Press reports:

Three previous Peace Prize laureates "South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina, have demanded that the prize money of $1.2 million not be paid this year. They say the bloc contradicts the values associated with the prize because it relies on military force to ensure security."

For economists, prices are like magic. They send all kinds of signals about who wants what, and how badly they want it. Prices are what make markets work so well in so many settings.

But there are some things we don't want to put prices on. We don't pay organ donors. Children attend public high schools for free. Medical residents get paid a fixed stipend no matter where they do their hospital training.