”Daron Acemoglu is a kind of Renaissance man”
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson are awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics, for their work on wealth differences between countries. ”Acemoglu is a kind of Renaissance man”, says Joonas Tuhkuri, Assistant Professor of Economics at Stockholm University.
Daron Acemoglu is one of three winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics. Illustration: Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach
As a PhD student at MIT, Joonas Tuhkuri had Daron Acemoglu as his supervisor. Tuhkuri now works at the Department of Economics at Stockholm University, with a research focus on technology, work, and psychology.
Joonas Tuhkuri, Stockholm University. Photo: David Degner
How would you describe Daron Acemoglu and his research?
”Acemoglu is a unique researcher in the sense that he’s so interesting and wide-ranging. He’s a kind of renaissance man. He works in political economy, macro, development, growth, labor, all these fields.”
Why, to you, is he a deserving economics prize winner?
”He deserves any recognition because he’s an amazing researcher. Acemoglu has shown that questions about institutions are important and that we can study them in a careful and systematic way. What the prize essentially shows is that it’s not just markets that are important, but also the institutions around those.”
He’s taught me how hard research is, but you can still do it
In what ways has his research influenced your own work?
”He was my PhD advisor, and he’s influenced my research in many ways. Most importantly, how he works is that he keeps his eyes on the big picture. He’d say, ’Swing for the fences’ – it’s a baseball term, but the idea is that you should always do your best. I also worked for him as his research assistant on a couple of projects, and what I learned there is a deep commitment to quality, that he really wants to do careful work. In some cases, when you see people working on that level, it looks easy. For Acemoglu, it’s hard work, and he doesn’t make it look easy either. He’s taught me how hard research is, but you can still do it.”
About the 2024 Economics Prize and more
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2024 on Monday 14 October.
The prize is given to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, both from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and James A. Robinson, from the University of Chicago, ”for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”.
Last updated: 2024-10-15
Source: Department of Economics