Daron Acemoğlu's or Paul Baran's prize? A critique of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics

Abstract

The paper critically examines the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson. It argues that their work provides a mystified account of Paul Baran's seminal work on the political economy of growth, the long-run divergence between rich and poor countries, and the genocidal roots of settler colonialism.