Nobel Prize 2024 in economic sciences awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, on Monday. They received the award “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”
The prestigious award worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) will be shared equally between the three laureates.
By examining the various political and economic systems introduced by European colonisers, the three economists have been able to demonstrate a relationship between institutions and prosperity, the jury said.
“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges,” Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said in a statement.
“The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” Svensson added.
Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu, 57, is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as is British-American Simon Johnson, 61.
British-American James Robinson, 64, is a professor at the University of Chicago.
“I am delighted. It’s just a real shock and amazing news,” Acemoglu told a reporters via telephone as the award was announced in Stockholm. The economics prize is the only Nobel not among the original five created in the will of Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.
The jury highlighted the laureates’ work illuminating how societal institutions play a role in explaining why some countries prosper, while others do not.
Acemoglu and Johnson recently collaborated on a book surveying technology through the ages which demonstrated how some technological advances were better at creating jobs and spreading wealth than others.
The economics award is not one of the original prizes for science, literature and peace created in the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and first awarded in 1901, but a later addition established and funded by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.
Last year, Harvard economic historian Claudia Goldin won the prize for her work highlighting the causes of wage and labour market inequality between men and women.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
MoreLess
First Published:
14 Oct 2024, 04:10 PM IST
Business NewsNewsWorldNobel Prize 2024 in economic sciences awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
