Nobel Prize 2024 winners in Economic Sciences announced

Laureates’ research

The laureates have shown that one of the explanations for differences in the well-being of countries is the social institutions introduced during colonization.

They have shown that societies with poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research explains why.

In particular, inclusive institutions were often introduced in countries that were poor at the time of colonization, which eventually led to a generally prosperous population. This is an important reason why former colonies that were once rich are now poor, and vice versa.

Photo: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson who won the Nobel Prize in Economics (twitter.com/NobelPrize)

According to the laureates, when there is a threat of revolution, people in power face a dilemma. They would prefer to stay in power and try to calm the masses by promising economic reforms, but the population is unlikely to believe that they will not return to the old system once the situation is settled. Ultimately, the only option may be to transfer power and establish democracy.

“Reducing the huge income gap between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of public institutions in achieving this goal,” said Jakob Svensson, Chairman of the Prize’s Economic Sciences Committee.

Prize in economics last year

Each year, the Swedish Central Bank’s Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on the same basis as the other Nobel Prizes, which have been in existence since 1901.

Although it is not one of the five original prizes established by Nobel’s will, this does not diminish its prestige. The award was established in 1968 by the Central Bank of Sweden on the occasion of its 300th anniversary in memory of Alfred Nobel.

In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Claudia Goldin, an American economist, historian, and gender expert, for having an improved understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.

She was awarded for being the first to provide a comprehensive account of how gender pay and employment gaps have changed over the centuries and the reasons why men still earn more on average and women are underrepresented in the global labor market.