Maurice Allais

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Maurice Allais (born May 31, 1911 in Paris, France) is a well-known economist, and was the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources".

He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris. His academic and non-academic posts have included being Professor of Economics at the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (since 1944) and Director of its Economic Analysis Centre (since 1946). in 1949 he received a Doctor-Engineer title from the University of Paris, Faculty of Science.

As an economist he made contributions to decision theory, monetary policy and other areas. His name is particularly associated with what is commonly known as the Allais paradox, a decision problem he first presented in 1953 which contradicts expected utility theory.

In attempts to contribute in physics, he made two controversial claims in relation to gravitational anomalies:

1. The Allais effect first reported in 1954 was the result of anomalous readings of a paraconical pendulum during two separate eclipse events. Initially this was thought to be a gravitational shielding effect inconsistent with general relativity but other conventional explanations take precedence in mainstream physics^{[citation needed]}.
2. More recently Dr. Allais performed a statistical analysis of the interferometer measurements of Dayton Miller and found^{[citation needed]} a corresponding periodicity with the sidereal day, the equinoxes and other celestial events which attempts to invalidate Robert S. Shankland's refutation of Miller's data. Allais claims that this demonstrates a sofar unknown anisotropy of Space as well as an effect of total velocity. If confirmed, this analysis could either cast doubt about the theory of relativity or open up possibilities for expansion of the theory. Allais paper has not been published in a peer reviewed journal and suffers from the conspicous^{[citation needed]} absence of experimental error bars that marred the original Dayton Miller experiment. Allais' paper is contradicted by the modern reenactments of the main tests of relativity[1][2] which do not exhibibit any of the phenomena dug out by Allais. The modern precision experiments have continually verified the relativity theory predictions.[3] [4]

[edit] Notable quotes

• "In essence, the present creation of money, out of nothing by the banking system, is similar - I do not hesitate to say it in order to make people clearly realize what is at stake here - to the creation of money by counterfeiters, so rightly condemned by law."

[edit] External links

• "Maurice Allais -Autobiography" Nobel Prize, nobel.se.
• "Maurice Allais" - Allais' website
• Allais' CV, 1987