Acemoglu receives John Bates Clark Medal

Professor of Economics Daron Acemoglu has been awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, a prestigious honor conferred by the American Economic Association once every two years. The award recognizes a top American economist under the age of forty who has made a significant contribution to research and thinking in the field of economics.

In presenting Acemoglu with the award, the American Economic Association cited Acemoglu's impressive body of original research in several distinct fields, including labor economics, macroeconomics, institutional economics, and political economy.

A native of Turkey, Acemoglu, 37, received the BA from the University of York, U.K. in 1989, and the MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics in 1990 and 1992, respectively. He arrived at MIT in 1993, was promoted to full professor in 2000 after serving for three years as the Pentti Kouri Associate Professor of Economics, and was named the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics in 2004. Recently, Acemoglu has been examining the role of political institutions in economic development, arguing that this factor outweighs geographical considerations in determining the relative economic strength of a nation. His research explores the links among political structure, legal and market institutions, and a nation's long-term rate of economic growth.

Acemoglu is the fifth member of the SHASS Economics Department to receive the Clark Medal. The first was Paul A. Samuelson, Institute Professor Emeritus, who received the award in 1947. The Clark Medal was also awarded to Professor Robert M. Solow in 1961, Professor Jerry A. Hausman in 1985, and Professor Emeritus Franklin M. Fisher in 1973. An honor in its own right, the Clark medal also has historically been a predictor of future success: Of the 29 Clark medalists, eleven, including both Samuelson and Solow, have later won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Acemoglu calls the recognition "absolutely amazing," adding that he's honored to be in the company of scholars like Samuelson and Solow. He explains: "The reason why MIT—which is essentially an engineering school—has the best economics department in the world is mostly because of the intellectual leadership that Paul [Samuelson], Bob [Solow] and Franco [Modigliani] have offered. To join the ranks of these and other fantastic economists is something one does not even dare dream of. It's more than a dream come true."

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