This year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their insights into why there are differences in prosperity between nations.

Acemoglu, Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics along with Johnson, the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, and Robinson, the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago.

Acemoglu, awarded the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, served as AEA Vice-President in 2016 and was a member of AEA Executive Committee from 2009–11.  He also gave the AEA Distinguished Lecture at the Annual Meeting in 2023. 

Daron Acemoglu

Simon Johnson

James A. Robinson

The laureates' research involved careful empirical work to demonstrate the importance of social institutions for prosperity. They developed new theoretical tools to show that societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit their populations do not generate economic growth or change for the better. 

In particular, they examined many of the political and economic systems introduced by European colonizers and showed how these past institutions affected the prosperity of nations today. They also explained the institutional dynamics that cause poorer societies to become stuck in a trap of extractive institutions and why escaping from this trap is so difficult. But importantly, they also indicate that there are ways out for countries who choose more open and democratic institutions. The findings could have profound consequences for the world's poorest countries.

"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," says Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.

Read the full announcement from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.