The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson the 2024 Nobel Economics Prize for their “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”
The recognition, formally titled the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final Nobel prize awarded this year. It has a value of 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately $1.1 million).
Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, highlighted the laureates’ contribution to understanding how societal institutions can bridge vast income disparities, a pressing global challenge. Unlike the original Nobel prizes established by Alfred Nobel in 1901, this economics award was introduced in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank.
Previous recipients of this prestigious award include prominent figures such as Milton Friedman, John Nash—whose life inspired the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind”—and former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Last year, the award went to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economic historian noted for her research on gender wage gaps and labour market inequality.
The economics prize has predominantly been awarded to US academics, a common trend in the scientific categories announced earlier in the week. The week of Nobel recognitions began with Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun from the US securing the medicine prize. It concluded with Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo, an advocate group for Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, winning the peace prize for their efforts against nuclear weapons.
