The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, both of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and to James Robinson of the University of Chicago.

They received the prize for their work on the gaps in prosperity between nations, and for their research on how institutions affect prosperity.

The laureates used both theory and data to better explain inequality between countries, according to the prize committee.

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges,” Jakob Svensson, chairman of the economics prize committee, said in a statement. “The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this.”

Their research has shown that the institutions that were introduced during European colonization have helped to shape economic outcomes in the once-colonized countries in the time since.

“Rather than asking whether colonialism is good or bad, we note that different colonial strategies have led to different institutional patterns that have persisted over time,” Dr. Acemoglu said during a news conference after the prize was announced.

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