Nobel Prize in economics awarded to trio who study why nations prosper

• The prize, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the highest award in economics and includes $1.1 million to be split among the three.

Zoom out: The winners — Acemoglu and Johnson are economists and Robinson a political scientist — helped answer a fundamental mystery of why some countries become much richer than others.

• Contrary to theories that these differences are tied to geography or culture, they show that European colonizers took different approaches in different places, with markedly different results.
• In some places, particularly those with abundant natural resources and diseases that made life inhospitable for colonizers, Europeans focused on extracting wealth and exploiting native populations as labor.
• In others, like, the U.S., Canada, and Australia, European colonizers built systems of property rights, independent courts, and other institutions that make societies richer over time.

What they're saying: "Institutions that were created to exploit the masses are bad for long-run growth, while ones that establish fundamental economic freedoms and the rule of law are good for it," writes the Nobel committee in summarizing their work.

• "Even if the extractive economic systems provide short-term gains for a ruling elite, the introduction of more inclusive institutions, less extraction and the rule of law would create long-term benefits for everyone."

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