Nobel economics prize is awarded for research into how poor institutions affect countries’ success

By Daniel Niemann and Mike Corder

The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research that explains why societies with poor rule of law and exploitative institutions do not generate sustainable growth.

The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago.

“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 for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said.

He said their research has provided “a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”

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