It has been weeks since the prize announcement, and plaudits are long overdue: hearty congratulations to Paul Piff, Daniel Stancato, Stéphane Côté, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton and Dacher Keltner, who discovered that upper-class people are more likely to steal candy from children. They are worthy winners of the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize in economics.
距离奖项揭晓已经过去了两个月，掌声早就该送上了：衷心祝贺保罗•皮夫(Paul Piff)、丹尼尔•斯坦卡托(Daniel Stancato)、斯特凡纳•科特(Stéphane Côté)、鲁道夫•门多萨-丹顿(Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton)和达彻•凯尔特纳(Dacher Keltner)。他们发现，上层阶级的人更有可能从孩子们那里偷糖果。他们当之无愧地获得了2026年搞笑诺贝尔经济学奖(Ig Nobel Prize in economics)。
I have praised the Ig Nobel Prizes before: they are the irreverent alternative to the Nobel Prizes, this year awarded for achievements such as research into splash-free urinals, burying and later disinterring 1,000 pairs of underpants to assess soil health in various countries and discovering that babies smell lovely to their parents, but teenagers do not. They refresh parts of the scientific discourse that the Nobel Prize does not reach. In the case of the economics prize, the Nobel memorial is all very well, but for a shortcut to understanding what makes economists tick, it’s the Ig Nobel Prize every time.
我以前就赞美过搞笑诺贝尔奖：它跟正牌诺贝尔奖的区别是它不那么正经。今年的获奖成果包括：关于防溅小便池的研究，在不同国家埋下1000条内裤然后再挖出来以评估土壤健康状况的研究，以及一个发现——小宝宝在自己父母闻起来是香喷喷的、青少年则没这效果。搞笑诺贝尔奖刷新了诺贝尔奖未能触及的科学前沿。就经济学奖而言，正牌诺贝尔经济学纪念奖当然是最权威的，但如果想快速了解经济学家究竟关心什么，搞笑诺贝尔奖永远不会让你失望。
Cheating is a particularly rich seam for economists, and for the Ig Nobel. In 2015 the prize was awarded to the Bangkok Metropolitan Police “for offering to pay policemen extra cash if the policemen refuse to take bribes”. It is good to see the boys in blue being recognised for advancing the cause of human knowledge.
作弊是经济学家尤其喜欢挖掘的一处富矿，这个领域也贡献了许多搞笑诺贝尔奖。2015年的搞笑诺贝尔奖颁给了曼谷警察局，获奖理由是“该局提出给拒绝收受贿赂的警察发额外的钱”。看到这些身穿蓝色制服的警察因推动人类知识进步而获得认可，实在令人欣慰。