Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2024: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announce on Monday that the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2024 will be given to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson. This prize honours recognises their "studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity", the official handles of Nobel Prize posted on social media.
While 1967-born Daron Acemoglu, who is originally from Istanbul, Türkiye, and 1963-born Simon Johnson, from Sheffield, UK, are professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, James A. Robinson, who was born in 1960, teaches at thw University of Chicago, USA.
They will get a prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor, which will be shared equally between the three laureates.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has so far been awarded 56 times, and today's announcement takes the total number of recipients to 96.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has been awarding the Economic Sciences prize since 1969.
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How Institutions Shape Prosperity — Study That Won Economic Sciences Prize
This year’s winners of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences — Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson — have shown that societal institutions are key to a nation's prosperity, the Nobel Prize Organisation said in a press releaase. Their research highlights how colonial powers shaped institutions differently in various regions, leading to diverse economic outcomes.
In some colonies, the Nobel Committee Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences noted, extractive systems were set up to benefit colonisers, exploiting local populations and stifling growth. Others, particularly where European migrants settled, developed inclusive institutions that promoted long-term prosperity.
The laureates argue that inclusive institutions are essential for sustainable development, while extractive systems favour only those in power, hindering economic progress. They also suggest that distrust in promised reforms can lead to democratisation, especially when revolution threatens.
“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,” Jakob Svensson, chair of the committee, said in the press release.
Riksbank Prize In Economic Sciences In Memory Of Alfred Nobel
The Riksbank Prize In Economic Sciences In Memory Of Alfred Nobel has been awarded every year since 1969. While 26 of these prizes have been given to one laureate only, as many as 20 have been shared by two recipients, and 10 between three laureates.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially known as 'The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel', was established in 1968 in honour of the 300th anniversary of Sveriges Riksbank. The award, which acknowledges significant contributions to economics, is often thought of alongside the original Nobel Prizes in categories, but it is not technically one of the Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel’s will, which specified only five categories — physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, literature, and peace.
ALfred Nobel's last will, written in 1895, left funds for awards to be given in the five disciplines that he felt contributed directly to human welfare, which at the time did not include economics. The idea for an economics prize came from the central bank of Sweden.
Nobel Prize 2024: All Disciplines
In 2024, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun in Medicine for discovering microRNA; John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton in Physics for innovations foundational to artificial neural networks, which have become pivotal in modern machine learning and artificial intelligence; David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper in Chemistry for their work in protein structure prediction; and South Korean author Han Kang in Literature for her evocative prose that confronts historical traumas and human fragility.
The Nobel Peace price has been announced for Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organisation representing atomic bomb survivors, for its advocacy toward a nuclear-free world.
The Nobel Foundation, which manages the fund Alfred Nobel bequeathed his fortune to in his 1895 will, collaborates with different organisations to select and reward the laureates — the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for Physics and Chemistry, Karolinska Institute for Medicine, Swedish Academy for Literature, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee for Peace.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was founded in 1739. It has nearly 470 Swedish and 175 foreign members, and it appoints members of the prize committee for a three-year term.