Europe Asia News

Last year’s Economics Prize was awarded to American scholars Simon Johnson, James Robinson, and Daron Acemoglu for their research on the relationship between colonization and the establishment of public institutions to explain why some countries have remained in poverty for decades.

The official name of this prestigious award is the “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.” It is the last Nobel Prize to be awarded this year.

In a statement about the prize, valued at 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million), the Academy said: “The laureates have taught us that sustainable growth is not something natural. For most of human history, the norm has been economic stagnation rather than growth. Their work shows that we must be aware of the threats to continuous growth and take measures to counter them.”

The prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and literature were announced last week. These prizes were established through the will of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded annually since 1901, with only brief interruptions during the world wars.

The Economics Prize was established much later and was first awarded in 1969 to Norwegian Ragnar Frisch and Dutch Jan Tinbergen for their work in dynamic economic modeling. Tinbergen’s brother, Nikolaas, also won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1973.

Although few economists are household names, among the more recognizable laureates are former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, Paul Krugman, and Milton Friedman.