MIT Sloan Executive Education is thrilled to congratulate MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson for receiving the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Acemoglu and Johnson shared the award with James A. Robinson of the University of Chicago for their groundbreaking research on how institutions shape economic development.
The longstanding research collaboration between Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson has empirically demonstrated the critical role that inclusive institutions play in fostering stronger economies and happier societies. By encouraging broad participation, upholding the rule of law, and safeguarding individual rights, these institutions create the conditions for sustainable economic growth.
“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better,” the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences stated in the Nobel citation. “The laureates’ research helps us understand why.”
“There’s nothing natural about 30-, 40-, 50- fold differences in income per capita in a globalized, connected world,” said Acemoglu in an interview with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, in which he speaks about the root causes of persistent poverty among the poorest nations and how to build the types of inclusive institution that can support prosperity. Acemoglu also highlights the importance of democracy and his fears regarding AI, and how its misuse could result in a two-tier society.
"There’s nothing natural about 30-, 40-, 50- fold differences in income per capita in a globalized, connected world."
Johnson and Acemoglu co-authored the book Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, which explores the history and economics of major technological transformations up to and including the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence.
In a recent press conference, MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that Acemoglu and Johnson “reflect a kind of MIT ideal” in terms of the excellence and rigor of their work and their commitment to collaboration. Their research, Kornbluth added, represents “a very MIT interest in making a positive impact in the real world.”
Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (United States), the Science Academy (Turkey), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the European Economic Association, and the Society of Labor Economists. He teaches in the self-paced online course Making AI Work: Machine Intelligence for Business and Society.
Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is head of the Global Economics and Management group. In 2007-08 he was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, and he currently co-chairs the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. He teaches alongside Acemoglu in Making AI Work: Machine Intelligence for Business and Society and also teaches in Economics for Business and the Global CEO Program.