The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to three economists for their groundbreaking research on how institutions shape national prosperity, the Nobel committee announced on Monday.
Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and James A. Robinson from the University of Chicago, were jointly awarded the prize “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”.
BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”… pic.twitter.com/tuwIIgk393— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2024
The laureates’ work has shed light on why some nations prosper while others struggle economically, focusing on the role of societal institutions in driving these differences.
Their research explores how colonial-era institutions continue to influence modern economic outcomes. The economists found that in some colonised regions, exploitative systems were established to extract resources, while in others, more inclusive political and economic structures were created for long-term development.
“Inclusive institutions were often introduced in countries that were poor when they were colonised, over time resulting in a generally prosperous population,” the committee said in its statement.
The work also examines why some countries remain trapped in cycles of poverty and poor governance, and how the threat of revolution can sometimes lead to democratisation.
Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said: “Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this.”
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics, is the last of this year’s Nobel prizes to be announced. (ıncyprus)
