Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson win the Nobel, with studies on wealth.
Vitalik Buterin and Julian Assange were also nominated for this year’s Nobel Prize.
According to information released this October 14 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson, economists whose studies focus on the issue of prosperity.
As the Committee noted in its press releasethe winners stand out for “demonstrating the importance of social institutions for the prosperity of nations.” They start from the idea of creating “more inclusive institutions” as a way to generate changes that allow a more equitable distribution of wealth. Although it is not clear how this idea would be carried out.
The approach has been praised by the Swedish Academy, supporting the need to “reduce the enormous income differences between countries and promote the generation of wealth.” Something that they consider to be one of the greatest challenges of our time. Even though this problem “was already addressed by Satoshi Nakamoto through the creation of a system for decentralized money management«, as advocates propose that the Nobel Prize be awarded to the mysterious father of Bitcoin.
In that sense, the studies of the 3 Nobel winners focus on the dilemma of poverty and wealth of nations, but on the basis of fiat money that is managed from centralized institutions. They vindicate the traditional economic system, in clear contrast to Nakamoto’s creation, which seeks for people to manage their resources independently of these institutions, as a way to obtain wealth.
Furthermore, Satoshi’s plan is a reality that is already generating tangible changes, as Bitcoin the world of money continues to revolutionize.
That is why the announcement of the 2024 winners fueled the debates that take place every year during the month of October, in defense of Nakamoto’s contributions, which – as several experts indicate – are more deserving of the Prize. that many of those who have won it in recent years.
In fact, the idea of presenting the award to Satoshi is being handled since 2015when proposed it UCLA finance professor Bhagwan Chowdhry.
«Am I being a bit capricious by nominating a complete outsider“Satoshi Nakamoto, for the Nobel Prize in Economics?” asked the teacher at that time, when questioned for recommending someone who does not appear in any academic publication and we don’t even know who he is.
“Bitcoin is such an important invention for the economy that it cannot be overlooked,” said Chowdhry, defending his proposal and listing a large number of areas in which the new platform was revolutionizing the world.
“Many industries, such as banking, finance and law, will experience major upheaval,” he predicted. But his recommendation was not taken into account, as it has not been in subsequent years. when Satoshi is named again as a possible candidate.
Satoshi deserves the Nobel, but it is difficult for him to be awarded it
The difficulties in granting a Prize to Satoshi were cited a few days ago by economists Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, creators of Marginal Revolution, a podcast where they made your predictions about who could win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
In what he called an “unusual selection,” Cowen said he would choose Ethereum co-founder, computer scientist Vitalik Buterin, for having done something for the monetary economy. Tabarrok expressed his agreement and added: “Vitalik has continued to contribute to the design of the network mechanism.”
However, they noted that Buterin’s contributions are far surpassed by the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. «Yes, I agree. Satoshi, of course I should receive him, but I’m sure he’s dead,” Tabarrok said. To which Cowen replied: “I’m not sure he’s dead.”
Economists replicated the controversy surrounding Nakamoto’s identity, which has kept the community busy in recent days. This, following the documentary prepared by HBO that pointed to Peter Todd as the creator of Bitcoin.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, HBO’s statement has been denied by Todd and by those who insist that there is no evidence and it is not necessary, because it is more important to maintain Satoshi’s anonymity by focusing on the contributions of his creation. A system that in the opinion of the majority of bitcoiners frees people from the flaws of the fiat system and has given birth to a new and disruptive industry.
“Satoshi prepared a 9-page technical report, where he outlined the plan for a solution that generated an industry with a multi-billion dollar market capitalization,” they comment in a Reddit forum, which is part of several debates that have been made about the reasons why Nakamoto deserves the Nobel Prize:
It created an incentive structure for independent actors to operate truthfully in maintaining a financial system. It created one of the most robust security models known to date; It led to an entire national state adopting a new legal tender and motivated an entire segment of our world population to take an interest in economics. Bitcoin has changed the global economic system forever!
Discussion on Reddit.
At this point, commentators cited Satoshi’s anonymity as one of the reasons why it is not taken into account for the Award. Hans Reuterskiöld, the press officer of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, already said it: “The prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel is never awarded anonymously, nor posthumously.”
Although there are also those who observe that the Academy usually rewards to figures that present proposals more linked to the traditional economic systemjust like the one made by the winners of this and previous editions. So they think that those who present more disruptive advances have less chance of winning.
Hence it can be deduced that this is also the reason why the figure of Julián Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks and fervent defender of Bitcoin, was not considered this year either. was also nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize.