CNBC. U.S.-based economists Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were awarded the Nobel Prize in economic sciences on Monday for their work on wealth inequality between nations.
The academics have helped show why societies with “poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better,” the Nobel committee said, demonstrating the “importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity.”
Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the popular 2012 book “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty,” which explores the roots of inequality and why some countries successfully gain wealth and influence.
The richest 20% of countries are now around 30 times wealthier than the poorest 20%, the Nobel committee noted in its statement, with the former expanding its wealth while the latter segment of nations fails to close the gap.
The laureates have helped explain how the political and economic systems introduced by colonizing countries from the 16th century onward play a key part in this disparity — and that places that were the richest at the time of colonization in relative terms are now among the poorest, the committee said.
They have “pioneered new approaches, both empirical and theoretical, that have significantly enhanced our understanding of global inequality,” Jakob Svensson, director, and professor of economics at Stockholm University’s Institute for International Economic Studies, said during a news conference.
The winners of the award, officially called the “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,” will receive 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.058 million) from the Swedish central bank.
Jenni Reid
