Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson

Established in 1968, The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences continues to honour those whose work enhances the understanding of economics and its role in society.

Nobel Prize in Economics: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to renowned economists Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. They have been awarded for “studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”

The three economists have "demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country's prosperity," the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm. “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,” it added.

About 3 winning scientists

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago. “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,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said. He said their research has provided "a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”

Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he is due to speak at a conference, Acemoglu said he was surprised and shocked by the award. “You never expect something like this," he said. 

About Nobel Prizes

The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes. Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. Nobel honours were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.

(With inputs from AP)

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