Nobel Prize for Economics 2024

1. On 14th Oct, the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to three economists.
2. The winners are Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their studies on why some countries succeed and others fail.
   1. In 2023, it was awarded to American economist Claudia Goldin "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcome."
   2. In 2022, another trio had been named for the prestigious award - American economists Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig.
3. The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm.
4. This event marks the end of the 2024 Nobel season after prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace were awarded last week.

Do you know? 66 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women between 1901 and 2024.

Prize Details:

1. The economics award is worth 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1 million or €0.92 million).
2. This amount is the same as the other Nobel categories.

About the Winners:

1. Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson are highly influential economists and political scientists.
2. They are particularly known for their collaborations on the relationship between political institutions, economic development, and long-term prosperity.
3. Acemoglu and Johnson are professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while Robinson works at the University of Chicago.
4. Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said that "reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time's greatest challenges."
5. The laureates have shown the importance of societal institutions for a country's prosperity.
6. They said that "societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better."
7. Acemoglu and Johnson recently published the book 'Why Nations Fail,' which looks at wealth inequality between nations.

History of the Nobel Prize in Economics:

1. The Nobel Prize in Economics was not among the five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel in 1895.
2. It was created in 1968 by an endowment from Sweden's central bank and was first awarded in 1969.
3. The winner is decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which follows the same selection process as for the other Nobel prizes.
4. Between 1969 and 2023, the economics prize has been won 55 times by 93 laureates.

Previous Laureates and Nationalities:

1. Before this announcement, the United States had achieved the most Nobel economics laureates, with 68 academics picking up the prize over the past 55 years.
2. The United Kingdom followed with 11 laureates, while Canada and France tied with 4 laureates each.
3. Notable previous laureates include Friedrich Hayek in 1974, who argued in defense of free-market capitalism, and Milton Friedman in 1976 for his work on monetarism.
4. Amartya Sen won in 1998 for his work in welfare economics, and Ben Bernanke was one of three laureates announced in 2022 for his analysis of the Great Depression.

Controversies Surrounding the Prize:

1. The prize remains controversial, as one of Nobel's descendants, Swedish human rights lawyer Peter Nobel, insists that the late inventor's family had no intention of recognizing economics.
2. Nobel was known for his interest in humanitarian and scientific endeavors, not economics, according to his great-grandnephew.
3. The prize has also been accused of having an ideological bias toward certain economic schools of thought.
4. Critics have denounced some previous winners for promoting theories that led to negative societal impacts, including inequality and financial instability.
5. The formal name of the award is the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Ceremony Details:

1. The trio will be presented with the certificates, awards, and prize money at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10.
2. This date marks the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

About Nobel prize:

1. Alfred Nobel had a vision of a better world.
2. He believed that people are capable of improving society through knowledge, science, and humanism.
3. This belief led him to create a prize that would reward discoveries conferring the greatest benefit to humankind.
4. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.
5. A memorial prize in economic sciences was added in 1968.

Foundations of the Nobel Prize:

1. The economic foundations for the Nobel Prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel signed his last will.
2. He left much of his wealth for the establishment of a prize and the subsequent Nobel Foundation.
3. The Nobel Foundation is tasked with managing his fortune and fulfilling the intentions of Nobel’s will.
4. According to Nobel's will, various independent prize-awarding institutions have selected Nobel Prize laureates in each category for over a century.

The Youngest Nobel Prize Laureates:

1. The Nobel Peace Prize 2014

   1. Malala Yousafzai awarded at age 17.
   2. Awarded “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

2. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1915

   1. Lawrence Bragg awarded at age 25.
   2. Awarded “for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays.”

3. The Nobel Peace Prize 2018

   1. Nadia Murad awarded at age 25.
   2. Awarded “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”

4. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1957

   1. Tsung-Dao Lee awarded at age 30.
   2. Awarded “for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles.”

5. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1936

   1. Carl D. Anderson awarded at age 31.
   2. Awarded “for his discovery of the positron.”

6. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933

   1. Paul A.M. Dirac awarded at age 31.
   2. Awarded “for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.”

7. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1932

   1. Werner Heisenberg awarded at age 31.
   2. Awarded “for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen.”

8. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923

   1. Frederick G. Banting awarded at age 31.
   2. Awarded “for the discovery of insulin.”

9. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935

   1. Frédéric Joliot awarded at age 35.
   2. Awarded “in recognition of their synthesis of new radioactive elements.”

10. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907

    1. Rudyard Kipling awarded at age 41.
    2. Awarded “for the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas, and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author.”
11. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019
    1. Esther Duflo awarded at age 46.
    2. Awarded “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”

The Oldest Nobel Prize Laureates:

1. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019: John B. Goodenough awarded at age 97 for the development of lithium-ion batteries.”
2. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018: Arthur Ashkin awarded at age 96 for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.”
3. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024: John J. Hopfield awarded at age 91 for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.”
4. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007: Leonid Hurwicz awarded at age 90 for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory.”
5. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021: Syukuro Manabe awarded at age 90 for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.”
6. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021: Klaus Hasselmann awarded at age 89 for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.”
7. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2012: Lloyd S. Shapley awarded at age 89. for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.”
8. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020: Roger Penrose awarded at age 89 for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.”
9. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1966: Peyton Rous awarded at age 87 for his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses.”
10. The Nobel Prize in Literature 2007: Doris Lessing awarded at age 87 for being that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire, and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny.”
11. The Nobel Peace Prize 1995: Joseph Rotblat awarded at age 86 for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.”
12. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007: Leonid Hurwicz awarded at age 90 for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory.”

Do you know? Nobel Prize Laureates Who Declined the Prize Jean-Paul Sartre: Awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature. Declined the prize because he had consistently declined all official honors. Le Duc Tho: Awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Declined the prize, citing the situation in Vietnam as his reason, stating he was not in a position to accept it. Nobel Prize Laureates Forced to Decline the Prize Richard Kuhn: German Nobel Prize laureate who was forbidden by Adolf Hitler to accept the Nobel Prize. Adolf Butenandt: Another German laureate who was also forbidden by Adolf Hitler to accept the Nobel Prize. Gerhard Domagk: Yet another German laureate prohibited by Adolf Hitler from accepting the Nobel Prize. Boris Pasternak: Awarded the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature. Initially accepted the prize but was later coerced by Soviet authorities to decline it. Nobel Prize Laureates Under Arrest at the Time of the Award Carl von Ossietzky: German pacifist and journalist who was under arrest when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Aung San Suu Kyi: Burmese politician who was under arrest at the time of her Nobel Peace Prize award. Liu Xiaobo: Chinese human rights activist who was under arrest when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ales Bialiatski: Belarus human rights advocate who was also under arrest at the time of his Nobel Peace Prize award. Narges Mohammadi: Iranian human rights advocate and freedom fighter who was under arrest when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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