James Robinson

James Robinson is Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and a 2024 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (shared with Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson). He is best known for co-authoring "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty" (2012) with Acemoglu — the popular account of their academic research on the role of inclusive versus extractive political and economic institutions in determining long-run national prosperity. Robinson's empirical work spans African political economy, comparative development in Latin America, colonial history, and the political origins of different institutional configurations. He has done extensive fieldwork in sub-Saharan Africa and is known for connecting historical and contemporary political science with economic analysis in ways that illuminate how power structures persist and how institutional change occurs. His work provides both the academic framework and accessible narrative for understanding why some societies escape poverty while others remain trapped.