Interview transcript

– Hello?

– Yes, hello. I’d like to speak to Thomas Schelling, please.

– This is he.

– Okay. My name is Maria Ullsten; I’m calling from Stockholm and I would like to do a recording for Nobelprize.org which is our official website. I would like to first congratulate you on the Prize.

– Thank you.

– How did you find out? Who called you?

– I was called by the secretary of the Committee; it’s just about thirty minutes ago.

– And where were you when you got the call? Were you asleep?

– I was asleep when the phone rang.

– Okay. And what was the first thing that went through your mind? What were you thinking?

– When he told me he was phoning from Stockholm?

– Yes.

– I was greatly surprised.

– And now, after your first half hour as a Prize-winner, how does it feel?

– Well, it feels busy. Yours is the third phone call.

– And it’s still not seven o’clock in the morning.

– Yes.

– Did you expect to get this Prize?

– No, I didn’t.

– Was it a complete surprise, or had it gone through your mind that you might get it one day?

– Well, for the last two years there have been rumours that I might be awarded the Prize. And, while I didn’t take it very seriously, naturally it was on my mind.

– Yes. Who was the first person that you told about the Prize?

– My wife.

– Yes, and what did she say?

– She was pleased.

– And have you had a chance to speak to Robert Aumann, whom you are sharing the Prize with?

– No, I haven’t.

-Have you been congratulated yet? You mentioned that you’d had a few phone calls.

– Well, my phone calls have been from … One from a correspondent in Bratislava and one from somebody in Columbia, and now you, and …

– That’s it so far?

– That’s it so far.

– Perhaps you could describe in a few words for a young audience what exactly it is you have been awarded the Prize for.

– Well, the language that I was given over the telephone is: for my “studies of conflict and co-operation”. And they weren’t any more specific than that.

– And how have your theories proved useful?

– Well, I spent a long time working on the subject of nuclear weapons control. And I have worked some on the economics of crime, and on studies of racial segregation, and I’m not sure just what it was that most attracted the Nobel Committee.

– It sounds very interesting. What will the Prize mean for your work? Will it change anything? Will you continue to work as usual?

– I don’t think it will change my work, no. I imagine I will get more invitations to go speak someplace, now that I’m a Nobel Laureate. But, otherwise, my … I’ll go on as I’ve been doing.

– And what will you do today? Will you have a chance to think about that?

– I have a hunch that I’ll be wanted to go out to the University of Maryland for some kind of ceremony, but it’s too early to know.

– Well, we hope to see you in Stockholm in December.

– It’s going to be what – December 10th?

– Yes. I think so. Have you had any chance to think about what you actually will do with the money?

– Oh, no. It’ll go into our bank account and we’ll live on it. Okay?

– Okay. And why did you start, if I may ask, to study economics? Was it a coincidence or a deliberate decision?

– To study economics?

– Yes. Why did you …?

– Well, you have to realise, I was brought up during the Great Depression and when I went to college I felt that the worst problem we had was the problem of depression and unemployment, so I majored in economics.

– I see. And what would you like to say to young people today? Why should anyone start to study economics today?

– I wouldn’t necessarily try to talk somebody into to becoming an economist; but I think everybody should have a basic understanding of how the economy works.

– Well, thank you so much for your time, and congratulations again.

– Thank you.

– Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

– Bye.

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