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Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Warwick Economics Alumnus and Honorary Graduate Professor James Robinson

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Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Warwick Economics Alumnus and Honorary Graduate Professor James Robinson

Warwick Economics alumnus and honorary graduate Professor James Robinson (Honorary Doctorate 2015, MA Economics 1985-86) is one of three economists jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences 2024.

Professor Robinson, now at the University of Chicago, shares the award with Professor Daron Acemoglu and Professor Simon Johnson, both based at MIT, for their work on the relationship between institutions and prosperity, focusing particularly on the political and institutional systems introduced by European colonisers.

Announcing the award, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: “This year’s laureates in the economic sciences – Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson – have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity. Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why.”

Professor Ben Lockwood, Head of Department of Economics at Warwick, said: “On behalf of the whole Department I offer our warmest congratulations to Professor Robinson and his fellow laurates. James joins Oliver Hart as a Nobel Prize winning economist who has graduated from our MA (now MSc) programme.

“As James said in his 2015 guest lecture, why some countries are poor and some countries are rich is one of the oldest questions in economics. It is wonderful to see his work in this field recognised with a Nobel Prize.”

Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said: “Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this.”

More about Professor Robinson:

Professor James Robinson received an MA from Warwick Economics in 1986 before moving to Yale for his PhD. After posts at the University of Melbourne, the University of Southern California, Berkeley and Harvard he joined the University of Chicago in 2015. He has since been appointed Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies (2016) and Professor of Political Science (2020). His books include: History of the Chiefdoms of Sierra Leone (with Tristan Reed); Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty by Acemoglu, Daron, and James A Robinson; and The Role of Elites in Economic Development by Amsden, Alice, Alisa De Caprio, and James A Robinson. He is also an Associate of the CAGE research centre, based within the Department of Economics at Warwick, and has contributed to its recent schools outreach programme.