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The link between colonialism and wealth disparities

Posted by: The Conversation

Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2024

The 2024 Nobel Prize for economics has been awarded to three economists for their work over the past two decades on understanding wealth disparities between countries.

Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were awarded the prize for showing that institutions set up during colonisation have had an enduring impact on economic outcomes. At a press conference Johnson said the basic finding of the trio’s work was that, while episodes of strong growth were possible under any regime, inclusive institutions were a much better foundation “if you want to sustain that growth over time”. Renaud Foucart unpacks their findings.

In Latin America it’s been the season for marking the day on which countries achieved independence. Elena Jackson sets out the ways in which these events signal a nation’s values and how countries wrestle with the meaning of the holidays - from “Día de la Raza” celebrations that originally extolled Spanish culture to anti-colonial protests today.

Caroline Southey

Founding Editor

Nobel economics prize: how colonial history explains why strong institutions are vital to a country’s prosperity – expert Q&A

Renaud Foucart, Lancaster University

US-based Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were recognised for their work on the vast differences in prosperity between nations.

Columbus who? Decolonizing the calendar in Latin America

Elena Jackson Albarrán, Miami University

Many US states and cities have renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. But wrestling over the explorer’s legacy has a longer – and even more fraught – history in Latin America.

 
 
 
 

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