- Title: Nobel laureate says Trump election promises 'worrying'
- Date: 7th December 2016
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (DECEMBER 7, 2016) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** NOBEL LAUREATES SITTING DOWN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS FILMING, TAKING NOTES NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL ECONOMIC SCIENCES LAUREATE, OLIVER HART, SAYING: "I don't think his policy (United States President-elect Donald Trump) - well, of course, things change every day - but I don't see yet a coherent set of policies, so it's very hard to know what he's going to do. The things he talked about during the campaign were worrying to me. The idea of tearing up trade agreements, imposing tariffs, I don't think that's the way forward for the U.S. or the world." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL ECONOMIC SCIENCES LAUREATE, BENGT HOLMSTROM, SAYING: "Uncertainty is never good, so we are nervous about that. But I would rather see what actually happens when he gets going, what he's doing, because he has changed his mind many times over." VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE / JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL CHEMISTRY LAUREATE, FRASER STODDART, SAYING: "We don't know what's going to happen in the United States in relation to science as in economics. We've heard many different comments from the Trump camp and we have to wait and see what actually happens in real life. In the intervening period I think we should move ahead in the spirit of - if I can just take the chemistry prize this year - of the fact that it has been given to fundamental science, and that is what I think myself, and my two colleagues, are going to preach at this particular time in Stockholm and beyond, that we are absolutely delighted that it is fundamental science that is being recognised this year." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL CHEMISTRY LAUREATE, BERNARD FERINGA, SAYING: "I recently heard, I learned that people were saying 'oh science is also only an opinion'. And this is scary and I fully agree we should do a better job in this in emphasising more what the role of science and education is, to bring forward facts and to distinguish it from fiction, and to make it possible to have new opportunities for the future based on solid science." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PHYSICS LAUREATE, DUNCAN HALDANE, SAYING: "Luckily someone who'd had it as a pre-print and worked on it managed to find it and return it to me. It was giving the first report of some of the work which I got this prize for." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PHYSICS LAUREATE, MICHAEL KOSTERLITZ, SAYING: "Because I used to spend half my time sitting on cliffs in North Wales and then the other half of my time I would spend either sleeping or thinking about physics." JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL CHEMISTRY LAUREATE, JEAN-PIERRE SAUVAGE, SAYING: "I gave my notes of research projects - hand-written notes - which I presented to my group, because every year we used to have a special seminar at the beginning of the academic year to present the projects, and the past projects, you know, to know where we were." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2016 11:14
- Keywords: Nobel physics chemistry economic sciences Donald Trump
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BVX5C7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to tear up trade agreements is worrying, Nobel economics laureate Oliver Hart said on Wednesday (December 7) .
Billionaire businessman Trump, who takes office next month, vowed during his election campaign to increase spending on infrastructure while cutting taxes.
"The things he talked about during the campaign were worrying to me," Hart told a news conference in Stockholm.
"The idea of tearing up trade agreements, imposing tariffs, I don't think that's the way forward for the U.S. or the world," he said.
With much infrastructure in the United States in bad shape, increased spending could be good even if the details in Trump's plans were "not so impressive", said Hart, but cutting taxes at the same time would lead to "budgetary problems".
Hart said he in fact favoured raising the tax burden on the wealthy, adding that it was very hard to know what Trump would actually do in office.
Hart and fellow economics laureate Bengt Holmstrom won the 2016 Nobel Economics Prize for their contributions to contract theory, helping the understanding of issues like the performance-based pay for top executives.
The pair will receive their award along with science laureates in a ceremony in Stockholm on Saturday (December 10). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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