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Agencies

This year’s Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu and British-Americans Simon Johnson and James Robinson for research into differences 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 said.
“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why,” it added.
The award announcement was made on Monday in Stockholm.
Jakob Svensson, chair of the economics prize committee, said the three experts had helped to explain why “the gaps between rich and poor are so persistent”.

They had “pioneered new approaches, both empirical and theoretical, that have significantly advanced our understanding of global inequality”, he said.
In the panel’s description, research by the academics showed how the path for prosperity can vary partly because of structures established in colonised countries, as a result of contrasting approaches taken by different empires built up by Europeans around the world.
Acemoglu, 57, and Johnson, 61, work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and 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 as the award was announced.

“Broadly speaking, the work that we have done favours democracy,” he said. “Countries that democratise starting from non-democratic regimes do ultimately grow, in about eight to nine years, faster than non-democratic regimes, and it’s a substantial gain. But democracy is not a panacea. Introducing democracy is very hard.”
Of the three winners Johnson is probably best known, for his stint at the IMF. While brief, from March 2007 until August 2008, it coincided with the onset of the global financial crisis.
Last year’s prize went to US economist Claudia Goldin for her research into the role of women in the labour market. Before that, the prize had been awarded several times to two or three people at the same time.
The economics prize is the only Nobel not among the original five created in the will of Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896.
It was instead created through a donation from the Swedish central bank in 1968, leading detractors to dub it “a false Nobel”.
However, as for the other Nobel science prizes, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides the winner and follows the same selection process.
The economics prize wraps up this year’s Nobel season, which honoured achievements in artificial intelligence for the physics and chemistry prizes, while the peace prize went to Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo, committed to fighting nuclear weapons.


South Korea’s Han Kang won the literature prize, while the medicine prize lauded discoveries in understanding gene regulation.
The Nobel Prizes consist of a diploma, a gold medal and US$1 million. They will be presented at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.


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Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize in economics awarded for research into differences in prosperity between nations

Members of the Nobel assembly announce the 2024 prize in economics, awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press conference in Stockholm on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

A bust of prize donor and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist who died in 1896. Photo: dpa

Daron Acemoglu, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of three men awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in economics. File photo: Reuters

2024 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivor group Nihon Hidankyo

Toshiyuki Mimaki, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, reacts after the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, was announced on Friday. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

A view of the devastation after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Photo: AP

Koichi Kawano, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan, speaks to journalists after the winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was announced. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

Shigemitsu Tanaka, who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, cries after the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner was announced on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Nobel Prize for chemistry awarded to Baker, Hassabis, Jumper for protein structure work

First handed out in 1901, 15 years after Nobel’s death, Nobel prizes are awarded for achievements in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. Photo: Reuters

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Photo: AP

South Korean author Han Kang wins 2024 Nobel Literature Prize for ‘intense poetic prose’

Han Kang is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. Photo: Reuters

A TV screen in Seoul shows Han Kang, the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. Photo: AP

Books by the South Korean writer Han Kang displayed at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Photo: AP

Workers display Han Kang’s books at a special section at a bookstore in Goyang, South Korea. Photo: AP

Nobel Prize for medicine awarded for ‘groundbreaking’ discovery of microRNA

Nobel Committee Secretary General Thomas Perlmann speaks to the media in front of a picture of this year’s laureates Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkum during the announcement of the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Photo: AFP

Harvard Medical School professor and an investigator at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Gary Ruvkun. Photo: Harvard Medical School/Joshua Touster/Reuters

Victor Ambros, PhD, the Silverman Chair in Natural Sciences and professor of molecular medicine. Photo: UMass via AP

Chinese eriter Can Xue is among the favourites to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Phot: Chen Xiaozhen/AFP

Nobel Prize in physics, awarded to 2 scientists for discoveries that enabled AI

Two pioneers of artificial intelligence, John Hopfield (left) and Geoffrey Hinton – won the Nobel Prize in physics. Photo: Princeton University via AP

Princeton University professor John Hopfield, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries and inventions that laid the foundation for machine learning. Photo: Princeton University/Handout via Reuters

Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, who studies neural networks used in artificial intelligence applications, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. Photo: AP

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The award concludes a week of prizes including medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and the coveted peace prize


The award concludes a week of prizes including medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and the coveted peace prize.
