On Monday, MIT economist Daron Acemoglu received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics for his groundbreaking work advancing understandings of how institutions shape economic outcomes. Not only is Acemoglu a member of the Academy, but he also served as a crucial member of the Academy’s Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE).
Acemoglu shares the Nobel Prize with Academy member and University of Chicago economist and political scientist James A. Robinson as well as MIT economist Simon Johnson. His work, alongside his colleagues, has deepened understandings of how institutions—political, social, and economic—determine whether countries thrive or stagnate. Their work tracing the relationship between democratic systems and economic growth has shaped both academic thought and public policy around the globe.
Since 2021, Acemoglu has served as a member of CORE, which seeks to refocus national attention from how the economy is doing toward how Americans are doing. The Commission released a final report with fifteen concrete recommendations for building a people-first economy. Acemoglu advised on the drafting of these recommendations, provided input on the design of the Commission’s listening sessions, and advised on the creation of the CORE Score, a data dashboard of American wellbeing.
“Daron Acemoglu’s research is vital for understanding the link between a thriving democracy and a thriving economy,” said Ann Fudge, co-chair of the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy and member of the Academy Trust. “His participation in the Commission helped develop a set of ideas and products that can address some of the most pressing economic challenges of our time. His Nobel Prize is a fitting recognition of his significant contributions to the worlds of academia, business, and public policy.”
Acemoglu, the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT, was elected to the Academy in 2006. He has authored numerous influential books and papers, including Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty and The Narrow Corridor: States, Society and the Fate of Liberty, both with James A. Robinson, and Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity with Simon Johnson. Robinson was elected in 2012 and has particular expertise on sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
For more information about the Academy’s work and the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, please visit www.amacad.org/economy.