STORY: :: Three U.S.-based scientists win the Nobel Prize in Economics for studying why global inequality persists

:: October 14, 2024

:: Stockholm, Sweden

:: Jakob Svensson, Committee Chairman, Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

“This is about understanding global inequality, which is measurably largely explained by income differences between countries. So, in the broadest sense, it is about understanding why some countries are rich and others poor, and the laureates have identified economic and political institutions in particular as one of the key driving factors.”

Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-Americans, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were praised for their work by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

“Reducing the enormous income differences between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The winners have shown how important social institutions are in achieving this goal,” said Jakob Svensson, Chairman of the Economics Prize Committee.

The award came a day after a World Bank report showed that the world's 26 poorest countries – home to 40% of the most poverty-stricken people – are more indebted than at any time since 2006, marking a significant turnaround in the economy Fight against poverty clarified.

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

“I think this is a time when democracies are going through a difficult period,” Acemoglu said. “And in some ways it is crucial that they reclaim the high priority of better and cleaner governance and deliver the promise of democracy, so to speak, to a wide range of people.”

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson is at the University of Chicago.

The prestigious prize, officially known as the Swedish Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the last prize to be awarded this year and is worth 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million).