Reply #1: Ehhh, it's not really a Nobel Prize anyway.

[tuvor]

Unlike the physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace prizes, a prize for economics was never requested by Alfred Nobel in his will. The award was established some 70 years after his death by the Bank of Sweden on its 300th anniversary in 1968. The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences...

(snip)

The prestige of the prize derives in part from its association with the awards created by Alfred Nobel's will, an association which has often been a source of controversy. Among the most vocal critics of the economics prize is the Swedish human rights lawyer Peter Nobel, who is a great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_in_Economics

You can listen to an interview with Peter Nobel from an episode of CBC's The Current from last week: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2007/200710/20071009.html