The Nobel Prize in Economics goes to prosperity researchers

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

October 14, 2024

Darren Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson received this year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their contributions to proving the importance of public institutions to a country’s prosperity.

KEY FACTS

The prestigious prize, officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize for Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the last prize awarded this year and is worth SEK 11 million ($1.1 million).
This year’s laureates showed that one of the explanations for differences in countries’ prosperity is the social institutions introduced during European colonization. Inclusive institutions were often introduced in countries that were poor at the time of colonization, which over time led to general prosperity for the population. This is an important reason why former colonies that were once rich are now poor and vice versa.
Introducing inclusive institutions would create long-term benefits for everyone, but extractive institutions provide short-term gains for those in power. As long as the political system ensures they retain their control, no one will trust their promises of future economic reforms. According to the laureates, this is the reason why there is no improvement.
“Reducing the huge income gaps between countries is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of public institutions in achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, Chairman of the Economic Sciences Prize Committee.
“Societies with poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better,” the prize’s organizers add on their website.

TANGENT

Darren Acemoglu and Simon Johnson work at MIT, while James Robinson is at the University of Chicago.

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Acemoglu and Johnson recently collaborated on a book researching technology through the ages that demonstrates how some technological advances are better at creating jobs and spreading wealth than others.

KEY STORY

The Economics Prize is not one of the original science, literature and peace prizes created by the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and first awarded in 1901, but is a later additional prize established and funded by the Central Bank of Sweden in 1968.

Past recipients of the award include a number of influential thinkers such as Milton Friedman, and John Nash – played by actor Russell Crowe in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, and former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Last year, Harvard economic historian Claudia Goldin won a prize for her work highlighting the causes of pay and labor market inequality between men and women.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

Women Make Up A Majority Of The EU’s Science And Technology Workforce But The Real Gap Is Elsewhere

by News Editor

June 25, 2026

Women now make up the majority of the EU’s science and technology workforce. According to Eurostat, in 2025, more than 81.6 million people aged 15 to 74 were employed in science and technology occupations across the EU. Of those, 52.5% were women, equal to 42.8 million women. The number of women in these occupations rose by 27.9% compared with 2015, an increase of more than 9.3 million over a decade.

On the surface, the numbers resemble progress. However, Eurostat’s category requires context before that figure can be read accurately. The data refers to HRST, or Human Resources in Science and Technology, specifically people employed in science and technology occupations. These are roles where the main tasks require professional or technical knowledge in physical and life sciences, but also in social sciences and humanities. That definition is wider and broader than engineering, ICT, laboratory science, or high-tech research alone.

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Zooming In

The gender picture changes once the data moves from a wider definition of the workforce to the narrower scientist-and-engineer (research and manufacturing) subgroup.

Scientists and engineers represented almost a quarter of all people employed in science and technology in the EU in 2025. Eurostat describes scientists and engineers as often being the innovators at the centre of technology-led development, making them an important subgroup to focus on separately.

Women accounted for only 40.8% of scientists and engineers in 2025, despite making up more than half of the wider category. That share has increased by a mere 0.5 percentage points over the past decade. The absolute number of women working as scientists and engineers rose from 5.3 million in 2015 to 8.2 million in 2025, despite the push from national and international organisations to increase the number of women in the field. Europe has expanded the number of women in science and technology occupations over ten years. However, that expansion has not extended equally into the scientist-and-engineer subgroup, where much of Europe’s research and innovation work is conducted.

In 2025, of the 39.4 million women aged 25 to 64 working in science and technology occupations in the EU, 35.5 million worked in service activities. Only 2.7 million worked in manufacturing. Women accounted for 57.5% of science and technology employment in services, but only 31.3% in manufacturing.

In 2025, the highest shares of women employed in science and technology occupations were recorded in Latvia at 62.4%, followed by Hungary’s Great Plain and North region at 61.1%, Estonia at 60.5%, Poland’s Central macroregion at 60.4%, and Lithuania at 60.3%. No EU country recorded a majority of women among science and technology workers in manufacturing.

Break-down

Eurostat’s figures measure employment in broad science and technology occupations. They do not show job security, pay levels, management roles, promotion rates, research leadership, or whether women are concentrated in junior or senior workplace positions.

The classification of “senior” also requires additional explanation. Eurostat reports that 45.9% of science and technology workers aged 25 to 64 in the EU were classified as “senior” HRST in 2025. In this dataset, “senior” refers to workers aged 45 to 64. It does not mean senior manager, senior researcher, team lead, or decision-maker.

A high female share in the wider Human Resource Science and Technology (HRST) category does not parallel equal representation across scientists, engineers, manufacturing roles, senior posts, pay, research funding, or decision-making. These figures also reflect the occupational mix inside each country or region, not only structural progress across all areas of science and technology.

The Case Of Cyprus

Eurostat data places Cyprus’s overall science and technology employment at 37.2% of the labour force in 2025, slightly above the EU-27 figure of 36.9%, and above Greece at 26.8%, Malta at 33.9%, and Turkey at 18.2%. This figure covers the total share of the labour force employed in science and technology across all genders.

Progress Or Work-in-Progress?

52.5% in the broad category. 40.8% among scientists and engineers. 31.3% in manufacturing. Europe’s gender gap in science and technology hasn’t closed yet, and there is still work to be done to encourage and support more women to enter the field, especially in research and manufacturing.

Let’s not wait another decade for another couple of percentage points of hope.

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