(Stockholm) The Nobel Prize in Economics on Monday rewarded Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu and British-Americans Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for their research on understanding inequalities and wealth gaps between nations.
The researchers, all three based in the United States, were distinguished “for their studies on institutions and the way they affect prosperity”, explained the jury in its conclusions.
“Reducing the huge income differences between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The winners have shown the importance of institutions in achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, chairman of the economics prize committee, quoted in a press release.
By examining the different political and economic systems introduced by European colonizers around the world, the three men demonstrated the link between the nature of political institutions and prosperity, the jury explained.
“Societies with poor rule of law and exploitative institutions do not generate growth or positive change,” the jury insisted.
Authoritarian regimes “will have more difficulty obtaining long-term sustainable results in terms of innovation”, underlined the winner Daron Acemoglu, during an exchange with the press in Stockholm, still in shock from this award that he called it “incredible news.”
His name frequently came up in experts’ forecasts.
Mr. Acemoglu, 57, is a specialist in political economy, growth and the role of institutions in development policies, particularly on innovation and inequality.
Holder of a doctorate in economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) obtained in 1992, he has taught since 1993 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, in the eastern United States, where Simon Johnson also works. , 61 years old.
PHOTO MURAD SEZER, REUTERS ARCHIVES
One of three recipients, Daron Acemoglu
The third winner James A. Robinson, 64, is a professor at the University of Chicago. In 2012, he co-wrote with Mr. Acemoglu the work Prosperity, power and poverty: why some countries succeed better than others.
They emphasize the need for inclusive political and economic frameworks and the role, according to them, of economic institutions in ensuring long-term growth.
Economic impact of AI
More recently, Mr. Acemoglu has focused on the economic impact of automation and artificial intelligence (AI), also at the heart, this year, of the work of Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry.
Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prizes recognize people who have worked for “the benefit of humanity”, in accordance with the wish of their creator, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
The only one not to have been provided for in Alfred Nobel’s will, the economics prize was created by the Swedish Central Bank “in memory” of the inventor. It was added in 1969 to the five traditional awards (medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace), earning him the nickname of “false Nobel” from his detractors.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to the American Claudia Goldin for her work on the evolution of women’s place in the job market and their income.
Rewarded for having “advanced our understanding of the situation of women in the labor market”, she is one of the very rare women – three out of 93 winners in 55 years – to have been distinguished in this category, after her compatriot Elinor Ostrom (2009) and the Franco-American Esther Duflo (2019).
The 2024 vintage of the famous awards distinguished only one woman, the South Korean author Han Kan, rewarded in literature.
He highlighted work on AI for the physics and chemistry prizes and the Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo, committed against nuclear weapons, for peace.
The medicine prize distinguished the Americans Ambros and Ruvkun on gene regulation.
The winners receive a check for 11 million crowns (1,385,100 Canadian dollars), to be shared in the event of multiple winners.