The 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson for their research into the relationship between institutions and prosperity. The researchers, who have investigated why some countries are rich and others poor, have shown that the types of institutions introduced by European colonisers have had a lasting impact on the prosperity of nations. Their work also explores how societies can be trapped in extractive institutions, which benefit a small elite at the expense of the wider population, and the difficulties of escaping these institutions to establish democracy and the rule of law.
