Go vote for the Dynamite Prize in Economics !

The Real-World Economics Review blog is holding a poll to select The Dynamite Prize in Economics, to be awarded to the three economists who contributed most to blowing up the global economy. The short list of contestants thus far includes:

* Myron Scholes and Fischer Black
* Eugene Fama
* Milton Friedman
* Alan Greenspan
* Assar Lindbeck
* Robert Lucas
* Richard Portes
* Edward Prescott and Finn E. Kydland
* Paul Samuelson
* Larry Summers

There's a short explanation of what each candidate did to help destroy the existence of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Here's the one on Richard Portes:

As Secretary-General of the Royal Economic Society from 1992-2008, he helped suppress worries expressed by non-mainstream economists about developments in the financial sector. In 2007 he wrote a Report for the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce giving a clean bill of health to Icelandic banks only a few months before they collapsed. When investigators called attention to the real state of Icelandic banking, he wrote a series of letters to the Financial Times defending the soundness of Icelandic banks and imputing professional incompetence to those who doubted it.

Take the time to read through all the linked explanations, especially for economists whose names you might not be familiar with.