Acemoglu, S Johnson & James Robinson wins 2024 Economics Nobel Prize

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, has selected Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson for the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. These three economists were chosen for their groundbreaking studies showing how the political and economic systems introduced by colonisers can determine whether a country is rich or poor today.

The three economists will share the 11 million kroner prize at a ceremony to be held in Stockholm, Sweden on 10 December 2024. 10 December is the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel in whose name the prize has been instituted.

Work of the Nobel Prize winner

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson researched the role of European colonisation in making a country rich or poor.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist found that societies with a weak rule of law and having state institutions that exploit the population failed to prosper.

The European colonists introduced political and economic institutions into these colonies. 

The countries where the European coloniser introduced an exploitative system and exploited the Indigenous population and resources for their own benefit experienced low growth after independence.

Slavery and serfdom are some examples of exploitative systems introduced by the colonisers where the powers were concentrated in a few hands.

In colonies, where the colonists introduced inclusive institutions, those countries prospered.

An inclusive system means that the colonisers introduced the rule of law, modern education systems, progressive social policies, etc.  

About the Nobel Prize winners 

All three winners of the Nobel Prize are America-based economists.

Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish-born American citizen who presently teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States of America.

Simon Johnson is a British economist who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and James Robinson is a British-American economist who teaches at the  University of Chicago, United States of America.

About Nobel Prize in Economic Science

The Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Peace and Literature was instituted by the Nobel Foundation in 1900 as per the will of Alfred Nobel. These prizes were given for the first time in 1901.

In 1968, the Swedish central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The prize, popularly called the Nobel Prize in Economics, was first given in 1969. 

The Sveriges Riksbank donated money to the Nobel Foundation in 1968, and from that donation, prize money was given to the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

• The Nobel Prize in Economics has been given 56 times to 96 economists.
• The first winner was Ragnar Frisch of Norway and Jan Tinbergen of the Netherlands in 1969.
• Only three women have been awarded the prize, and the first woman was Elinor Ostrom of the United States in 2009.
• 2023 prize winner -Claudia Goldin of the United States

Indian Prize winner

Only one Indian has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Amartya Sen got the prize in 1998 for his contribution to welfare economics.