Nobel economics prize goes to inequality researchers

Reuters ^ | October 14, 2024 | By Simon Johnson and Karolina Tagaris

[Oldeconomybuyer]

STOCKHOLM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Three U.S.-based academics won the 2024 Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that explored the aftermath of colonisation to understand why global inequality persists today, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship.

"Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time's greatest challenges," said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.

"They have identified the historical roots of the weak institutional environments that characterize many low-income countries today," he told a press conference.

The award came a day after a World Bank report showed that the world's 26 poorest countries - home to 40% of its most poverty-stricken people - are more in debt than at any time since 2006, highlighting a major reversal in the fight against poverty.

The laureates' research showed how European colonisation had dramatic but divergent impacts across the world, depending on whether the coloniser focused on extraction of resources or the setting up of long-term institutions for the benefit of European migrants.

This, they found, resulted in a "reversal of fortune" where former colonies that were once rich become poor, while some poorer countries - where institutions were often set up - were in the end able to garner some generalised prosperity through them.

Another finding covered how "dangerous" it was to colonise an area: the higher mortality among the colonisers, the lower today's current output per capita, a measure of prosperity.

[marktwain]

I guess they did not consider the vast improvements which came with colonization.

A primary one was stopping the intertribal wars.

[PeterPrinciple]

for research that explored the aftermath of colonisation to understand why global inequality persists today, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship.

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inequality causes corruption and dictatorship

OR

corruptions and dictatorship causes inequality?

What did our Founding Fathers think? But they were just a bunch of old white guys..............

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Moslems colonized all of North Africa, Spain, the Middle East and up to eastern Europe. Did they look at the legacy of moslem colonization and compare it to the legacy of Christian colonization?

There were HUGE differences and outcomes between Catholic colonization of Mexico southward and Protestant colonization the US and northward.

[simpson96]

LOL

Another woke “award”.

[Paladin2]

Low-income countries today need more high paid Economic Profs?

[Sicon]

Remember when the Nobel Prize WASN'T a propaganda tool for communism?

Yeah, me neither.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Remember they have Obama the Shiite (Iran supporter) won one. Look how that turned out.

[No name given]

Just like the golden globes and the Oscar’s.

[MinorityRepublican]

"They have identified the historical roots of the weak institutional environments that characterize many low-income countries today," he told a press conference.

Basically, Spain = 👎

England = 👍

But England is a $#sithole ever since WWII ended and that's due to their welfare state. We may be following their lead if we end up electing Kamala Harris.

[Paladin2]

Three White guys are going to fix the current outcomes of relative lately historical White Colonization?

These winners need to study current Sweden.

[No name given]

Bathhouse Barry didn’t deserve that honor at all.

[From The Deer Stand]

They should have a Nobel Prize for ridiculous Nobel Prizes.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A DEI Nobel Prize.

What will they think of next?

[econjack]

Johnson told Reuters by telephone that established institutions in the United States were under stress, notably due to Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election.

That's Johnson's politics speaking, not his research.

[oldplayer]

Paging Thomas Sowell. Paging Thomas Sowell. Please pick up the red courtesy phone. (And then respond to these guys with stuff you documented 30 years ago or more.)

[Henchster]

"Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time's greatest challenges,"

In other words: "We won an award for being run-of-the-mill socialists!"

[Paladin2]

The Pieces of Eight Prize comes from Norway.

The rest from Sweden.

The Norwegians are generally lamer in selecting “winners”.

[heartwood]

Why did the countries which suffered from extractive colonialism not become institutional after the colonizers left?

Is there any institutional country that the colonizers left? If not, does that mean it would be better for the natives if Europeans stayed and built institutions?

Is the whole thing a correlation not causation effect, like why schools are generally better and murder rates lower the closer you get to the Canadian border, barring the counterexample cities, which might suggest factors other than North and South alone?

[VanShuyten]

This is a leading statement: “… the higher mortality among the colonisers, the lower today’s current output per capita…”