How come there is a Nobel prize for Economics but not math?

I realize that Economics , using applied math, is more directly related to the welfare of people. But using a similar logic, why does literature deserve a nobel prize? Its not directly impacting. Do you agree?|||The Nobel Prize for math is generally considered to be another award, called the Fields Medal, or alternatively another distinction, the Abel Prize.





The reason why the Nobel doesn't include a Math section isn't entirely clear. Speculations range from what you mentioned, about Alfred Nobel (the creator of the Awards) just not thinking all that much of Mathematics, at least in terms of how they could help humanity (the most likely explanation), to sniggering gossip about how he used to fancy a gal who turned him down for another guy who just happened to be a mathematician (the least likely, for a number of reasons, but still a fun little urban legend).





As for literature - well, literature DOES directly impact humanity. The yahoo answers format doesn't really lends itself to this sort of discussion, but if you want to talk about what affects people most directly, I'd say that out of all the disciplines in the prize, literature is second only to medicine/physiology in terms of how it affects people. You'd be hard-pressed to underestimate the amount of influence literature has on the way people think about themselves and the world. And the effects can be noticed really quickly, and you don't even need to be super-attuned to the trends of mainstream thought to spot them.





To take an example from popular, non-highbrow literature: the DaVinci Code craze. After the davinci code gained momentum and started selling a lot, people started to get into things like the history of secret societies, the role of the feminine in the church, symbols, and other themes like that in a way they really didn't do earlier. Seemingly overnight, these things went from complete geekery (ie from a fringe interest) to stuff that those with mainstream interests and tastes took at least a passing interest in. Compare that with many discoveries or advances in physics or chemistry: it takes years for each breakthrough in these disciplines to make its way into the mainstream, and usually the source of it is barely recognizable.





Ultimately, literature, especially fiction, interacts with people's imagination, and includes a discussion of everything about what it means to be human. If physics and chemistry are about exploring how the tangible world works, and the same for medicine/physiology with a particular focus on the human body, literature is an exploration of how the non-tangible world works - which includes our minds, emotions, views of ourselves, and complex interactions with one another. Can't beat that for influence ;-)