Nobel economics prize for 2024 awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson
Simon Johnson, an economist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
U.S.-based economists Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were awarded the Nobel prize in economic sciences on Monday for their work on wealth inequality between nations.
The academics have helped show why societies with "poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better," the Nobel committee said, demonstrating the "importance of societal institutions for a country's prosperity."
Acemoglu and Johnson are professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson is director of the University of Chicago's Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts with a specialism in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the popular 2012 book "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty," which explores the roots of inequality and why some countries successfully gain wealth and influence.
The laureates have "pioneered new approaches, both empirical and theoretical, that have significantly enhanced our understanding of global inequality," Jakob Svensson, director, and professor of economics at Stockholm University's Institute for International Economic Studies, said during a press conference.
The question of why the gaps between poor and rich nations are so persistent is not new, but remains "among the most urgent in social sciences," he added.
