Abstract
Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2024 for their research on the impact of institutions on the prosperity of nations. They expanded the classical economic theory of market mechanisms, capital accumulation and technology to include the institutional and political-economic dimension. By skilfully identifying natural experiments, they show how inclusive institutions promote long-term prosperity, while extractive institutions lead to instability. The choice of institutions – not geography – determines economic success. Various critiques of their work demonstrate how they advance the debate, address their identification, the role of property rights and the insufficient differentiation between countries with similar institutional structures.