It Would Be Nice to Know What the World's Poor Think of Nobelists

Upon creating the Order of the Legion of Honor—the little red ribbon all aspirational French citizens dream of wearing—Napoleon declared without illusion that “one governs peoples with trinkets.” Of all trinkets, the Nobel Prize is the most desirable—because of the money that goes with it, the prestige it confers, and its worldwide resonance. But each year, the Swedish and Norwegian committee's choices are perplexing.