Netizens call for China to receive Nobel Economics Prize
The announcement of the winners of the Nobel prize in economics set Chinese internet abuzz, with some Chinese netizens posting their support for China to receive the Nobel Economics Prize for lifting more than 850 million people out of extreme poverty and contributing to 70 percent of worldwide poverty reduction.
However, analysts noted it is netizens’ misunderstanding of Nobel Prize, stressing China’s obvious progress in lifting poverty doesn’t need a prize to acknowledge.
Economists Michael Kremer, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo were awarded the Nobel Prize on Monday for their work on alleviating global poverty.
The US trio were awarded for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, according to the prize committee.
Some users posted that the US trio’s experiment in tackling poverty could not compare with China’s efforts.
“China is best qualified to speak on poverty alleviation. The Chinese government and researchers have done more than just experiments,” was a typical such post.
China has lifted 850 million people out of extreme poverty in the past 40 years and contributed to over 70 percent of poverty reduction across the world, according to a government white paper on China’s progress in human rights since reform and opening-up.
Xu Hongcai, an economist with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times that “China’s biggest achievements on poverty alleviation are in practice, while the Nobel Prize is designated to give to academics. They are two different things.”
Xu noted that winning Nobel Prizes is not the criteria for judging a country’s contribution and achievements in tackling poverty.
Commentator Sima Nan posted on his Weibo that China’s proposal, practice, research and achievements in poverty alleviation were one of the most brilliant successes in world history.
Chinese people should be proud of China’s poverty alleviation progress and continue the work with or without a Nobel Prize, he posted.