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 their research on how institutions are formed and how they affect prosperity." The announcement was made on the Nobel Committee's website on Monday, October 14.
As the authors of the press release state, the 2024 laureates "have demonstrated the importance of public institutions for a country's prosperity." Societies lacking the rule of law, where institutions exploit the population, do not improve or grow.
"When Europeans colonized large parts of the globe, institutions in these societies changed. In some places, the goal was to exploit the indigenous population and extract resources for the benefit of the colonizers. In others, colonizers established inclusive political and economic systems for the long-term benefit of European migrants," the authors explain the academy's choice. "The laureates showed that one explanation for the differences in wealth among countries is the public institutions that were introduced during colonization. Inclusive institutions were often established in countries that were poor at the time of colonization, which over time led to overall prosperity for the population. This is an important reason why former colonies that were once wealthy are now poor, and vice versa."
As researchers found, some countries fall into a trap: the introduction of inclusive institutions would create long-term benefits for all, but resource-extractive systems "provide short-term benefits for those in power."
"Reducing the enormous income disparities between countries is one of the most challenging tasks of our time. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of public institutions in achieving this goal," commented Jacob Svensson, chair of the Prize Committee for Economic Sciences.
All of the economics laureates are affiliated with American universities:
- Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson — Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
- James A. Robinson — University of Chicago, Illinois.
It is worth noting that during the past week, from October 7 to 11, prizes were awarded in medicine , physics , chemistry , literature , and the Nobel Peace Prize .