A life in context
The person behind the prize
Johnson received his doctorate at MIT, where he later became a professor. His work examines how political and financial arrangements shape economic outcomes. With Acemoglu and Robinson he investigated whether differences in historical institutions help explain large differences in present-day incomes.
The contribution
He contributed to research using colonial history to examine the long-run effects of institutions. The challenge was to distinguish the influence of rules from the possibility that prosperity itself changes those rules.
The idea in plain language
Institutions are the rules and organisations that shape social life: courts, property rights, political representation and limits on power. They influence whether people can invest, cooperate and expect to keep the results of their work.
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