Nobel Prize in economics awarded to researchers studying global inequality

Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-American, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were commended for their work on "how institutions are formed and affect prosperity."

Three U.S.-based academics won the 2024 Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that explored the aftermath of colonization to understand why global inequality persists today, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship.

Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-American, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were commended for their work on “how institutions are formed and affect prosperity,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.

“They have identified the historical roots of the weak institutional environments that characterize many low-income countries today,” he told a press conference.

The award came a day after a World Bank report showed that the world’s 26 poorest countries – home to 40% of its most poverty-stricken people – are more in debt than at any time since 2006, highlighting a major reversal in the fight against poverty.

The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final prize to be given out this year and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).

Acemoglu told the Nobel press conference that data gathered by pro-democracy groups showed that public institutions and rule of law in many parts of the world were currently being weakened.

“I think this is a time when democracies are going through a rough patch,” Acemoglu said. “And it is in some sense quite crucial that they reclaim the high ground of better governance, cleaner governance, and delivering sort of the promise of democracy to a broad range of people.”