Almost 1 million prize money

Nobel Prize in Economics for research into prosperity

The US researchers Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson will be awarded the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences this year.

(Bild: APA/AFP/TT NEWS AGENCY/TT/Christine Olsson)

The three US researchers Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Economics for their research into the reasons for differences in prosperity between countries. 

This was announced by the Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm on Monday. Acemoglu had previously been named as a favorite for this year's prize by several economists.

Acemoglu also researches AI in the labor market
IHS Director Holger Bonin also said in an initial statement that he had long considered Acemoglu to be worthy of the Nobel Prize - albeit for his research in the area of the labor market. Acemoglu's research has a "very broad profile" and he also works on the effects of artificial intelligence on the labor market, for example. Acemoglu combines extremely applied research with a "very, very clean theory" on growth and institutions.

The 20 percent richest countries are around 30 times richer than the poorest 20 percent. The researchers have provided explanations as to why this is the case.

Work shows that democracy ultimately prevails
The argument of the three researchers working in the USA, according to which democratic structures ultimately lead to more growth and prosperity, is "an important indication", especially in the current times, when some believe that countries such as China could also be successful with a model of an obviously non-democratic and controlled market.

The work of today's award winners shows that democratic structures will ultimately prevail - "that is also my conviction", said Bonin. Their work provides the arguments and evidence as to why this is the case at the highest level, empirically and with historical data. The "framing" of the prize fits in well with today's world.

Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Sciences

The prize, correctly named the "Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences", is counted among the Nobel Prizes, although it is not based on the will of the dynamite inventor and prize donor Alfred Nobel, but was donated by the Swedish Riksbank.

All three prize-winning researchers are active in the USA. 57-year-old Acemoglu and 61-year-old Johnson teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while 64-year-old Robinson is a professor at the University of Chicago.

It is "one of the greatest challenges of our time" to reduce the large income disparities between countries, explained the committee. The award winners had demonstrated the role of social institutions in this process.

 Award winners also receive "real" prize money
The prize winners receive the same prize money as the "real" Nobel Prizes, i.e. 11 million Swedish kronor (970,000 euros) per category. And it has not been awarded since 1901, but only since 1969. Vienna-born Friedrich Hayek was the only Austrian winner in this category in 1974.