Daron Acemoglu Awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics

STOCKHOLM — The 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to three scholars from the United States “for their research on how institutions are formed and how they affect welfare,” according to the Nobel Committee’s website.

Istanbul-born Armenian economist Daron Acemoglu is among the recipients of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. He shares the prize with Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson. Their award-winning work focuses on the disparities in prosperity between nations.

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 announced in Stockholm.

The researchers concluded that differences in prosperity among states affected by European colonization stem from social institutions that were either altered or artificially created in the colonies. Inclusive social institutions, as the authors describe them, were introduced in poor countries, leading to the general prosperity of the population over time. They argue that this is a significant reason why some former colonies that were once prosperous are now impoverished, and vice versa.

Acemoglu, 57, and Johnson, 66, work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson, 64, conducts his research at the University of Chicago.

“I am delighted. It’s just a real shock and amazing news,” Acemoglu told reporters via telephone when the award was announced in Stockholm.

“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 in achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.

Daron Acemoglu is the second Diaspora Armenian to receive the Nobel Prize. In 2021, Ardem Patapoutian won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Born to Armenian parents in Istanbul, Acemoglu received a BA from the University of York in 1989 and a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1992. He lectured at LSE for a year before joining the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His father, Kevork Acemoglu (1938–1988), was a commercial lawyer and lecturer at Istanbul University. His mother, Irma Acemoglu (d. 1991), was the principal of Aramyan Uncuyan, an Armenian elementary school in Kadıköy, which Daron attended.