The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for their research into why some countries succeed and others fail.
The three economists “demonstrated the importance of social institutions for a country's prosperity,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' Nobel Prize Committee said in a statement in Stockholm.
“Societies with poor rule of law and systems that exploit their people do not produce growth or change for the better. The laureates' research helps us understand why.”
Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robinson conducts research at the University of Chicago.
“Reducing the large income gaps between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The winners have demonstrated the importance of social institutions in achieving this,” said the Economic Sciences Prize Committee member. said head Jakob Svensson.
He said their research provided “a deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”
Acemoglu, who arrived at the academic conference in Athens, Greece, where he was scheduled to speak, said he was surprised and shocked by the award.
“You would never expect something like this,” he said.
The Prize in Economics is officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel.
The central bank was established in 1968 as a monument to Nobel, the 19th century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and won five Nobel Prizes.
Although Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is not technically a Nobel Prize, it is always awarded, along with other prizes, on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. .
Last week, Nobel Prizes were announced in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.
