Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson

The Collegio Carlo Alberto congratulates Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson, recipients of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”.

Juan Vargas, Carlo Alberto Chair in Economics and a coauthor of both Acemoglu and Robinson, writes that “in their seminal paper ‘The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation’ published in 2001 by the American Economic Review, the awardees gave birth to an important research agenda on the rigorous empirical assessment of the extent to which institutions can promote or hinder long-term economic development. The three continued this line of research with several papers over the years; Acemoglu and Robinson summarized it in their best-seller ‘Why Nations Fail’”.

At the Collegio, Acemoglu gave the (inaugural) Vilfredo Pareto Lecture in 2007 (available here), while Robinson presented a Collegio Aperto event on ‘Why nations fail’ in 2014. Acemoglu was also one of the distinguished speakers both in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the International Festival of Economics. His 2023 Lecture can be rewatched here.

Acemoglu is Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT, and Robinson is the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor and University Professor at the University of Chicago.