On Monday, October 14, 2024, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three economists: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. This prestigious award recognizes their groundbreaking research on the formation of institutions and their impact on economic prosperity.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the trio was honored “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.” Their work has highlighted the critical role of societal institutions in determining a country’s economic growth and development. According to the Nobel committee, “Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why.”
Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, both affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have collaborated extensively on the relationship between political systems and economic growth. Acemoglu, an Institute Professor at MIT, has made significant contributions to labor economics and the effects of automation on employment. Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, has written extensively on development issues, finance sector regulation, and fiscal policy.
James A. Robinson, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, has worked closely with Acemoglu and Johnson. Together, they have authored influential books such as “Why Nations Fail” and “The Narrow Corridor,” which explore the historical development of rights and liberties in nation-states.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is presented annually and is always awarded together with the other Nobel Prizes on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
