Nobel Prize in Economics for research into differences in prosperity between countries

This article was last updated on October 14, 2024

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Nobel Prize in Economics for research into differences in prosperity between countries

This year’s Nobel Prize for Economics goes to the Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu, the British-American Simon Johnson and the British James A. Robinson. They receive the prize for their research into how the difference in prosperity between countries arises.

The three conducted research into how institutions form in a country and how those institutions subsequently influence the development of a country’s wealth.

Based on their research, they argue, among other things, that for economic growth in a country you often need political stability.

“Reducing the large income differences between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Jakob Svensson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Economics. “The prize winners have shown how important social institutions are in achieving this.”

North and South Korea

Acemoglu and Johnson co-wrote the popular science book Why Some Countries Are Rich and Others Poor in 2012. For example, they talk about the differences between South and North Korea.

“In South Korea, the government is accountable to the citizens and the population has plenty of economic opportunities; the country is very prosperous,” the Dutch publisher said at the time of the book’s publication. “North Korea is governed dictatorially and has experienced oppression and famine for decades.”

All three winners are affiliated with American universities, Acemoglu and Johnson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson at the University of Chicago.

Not a real Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize for Economics is not actually a real Nobel Prize, because it was not created by Alfred Nobel himself. The other Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prize for Economics only since 1969. The first time was in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Swedish central bank.

The official name is ‘The Swedish Reich Bank Prize for Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel’.

The prize is always awarded together with most other Nobel Prizes on December 10 in the Swedish capital Stockholm. That is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. Only the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded elsewhere, namely in the Norwegian capital Oslo, but on the same day.