Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu Wins A.SK Social Science Award

Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor and the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics in MIT’s School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, is the 2023 recipient of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center’s A.SK Social Science Award, one of the most highly endowed international awards in the social sciences.

Acemoglu received the award for “his vastly influential work on, among others, the decisive role of institutions in capitalist economies, on the forces of states and societies which must negotiate a balance in order to ensure liberty, and on the uses and risks of automation.” 

In announcing the award, the international jury praised Acemoglu’s fundamental contributions to labor economics, macroeconomics, and political economy.

“As his research moves across both political science and economics, Daron Acemoglu has become a leading expert on the determinants of economic growth,” the international jury wrote.

“I am incredibly honored and humbled to have been selected as the recipient of the A.SK Social Science Award,” Acemoglu says. “The WZB has been unwavering in its support for and promotion of high-quality social science, and I consider myself lucky and privileged to have been included in their illustrious roster of previous recipients.”

Acemoglu began teaching at MIT in 1993, and has been honored throughout his distinguished career for his work in macroeconomics, political economy, labor economics, development economics, and economic theory. Acemoglu co-leads the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative, alongside MIT economists Professor David Autor and Professor Simon Johnson.

Earlier this year, Acemoglu published “Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity,” co-written with Simon Johnson. Acemoglu has warned of the potential social, economic, and political harm of allowing AI to go unregulated.

The A.SK Social Science award is endowed with 100,000 euros. Acemoglu will receive the award at a livestreamed ceremony in Berlin on Nov. 14.

Past recipients of the award include MIT economist Esther Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics, and a co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), who received the honor in 2015.