"Three well-known and widely read Nobel laureates in Economic Sciences, relevant to several fields. The book “Why Nations Fail” by Acemoglu and Robinson has been on bestseller lists, and they write in an accessible style, often using anecdotes to illustrate their points," says Martin Andersson, Associate Professor in Economic History.
The scientists receive the prize for their work on showing how and why societal institutions play an important part in a country’s development both economically and democratically. Among other things they look at why some states that were colonized seem to get stuck, while others progress. Things that may have happened a very long time ago can have a strong impact still today, but the three researchers also show how the institutions themselves can change and become more democratic.
“Their work reaffirms that historical events and institutions have lasting impacts on contemporary economic development, making it clear that understanding the past is essential to tackling present-day disparities,” says Jutta Bolt Associate professor in Economic History at LUSEM.
“This resonates with my own academic journey. My first email as a PhD student was to Daron Acemoglu, requesting data to replicate his and James Robinson’s & Johnson’s famous 2001 paper, The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation. Within a day, I received a quick response, including the data, which was instrumental for my first PhD paper publication in the Journal of Development Studies. Today, I am fortunate to be co-authoring a paper with Jim Robinson, Leigh Gardner from the London School of Economics, and Jack Paine from Emory University,” Jutta Bolt continues.
The three laureates are all economists, Robinson moving between economics and political science, but their research is important within economy, economic history, political science, development economics and more. Martin Andersson explains that there is some criticism of their work arguing that they tend do compress history, by looking at one moment in time and then jumping to today, thereby missing important processes and mechanisms leading up to the current state. Still, their contributions vastly outshine the critique.
Kerstin Enflo, professor in economic history and Tommy Andersson, professor in economics, are both members of the Nobel committee and they both expressed how happy they were with the choice of laureates.
"The laureates are excellent scholars. They have given us the means to understand the roles of institutions and how past events can live on and influence them over long periods of time. They ask big questions about the development of wealth as well as the lack of development," Says Kerstin Enflo