Daron Acemoğlu is one of the foremost economists alive today.
Origin
Acemoğlu was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Armenian parents.
Claim to fame
A professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Acemoğlu is a recipient of the prestigious James Bates Clark Medal, awarded to economists under the age of 40. Out of a total of 36 winners he is only one of seven not from the United States and one of two who come from outside the US, Canada and Europe.
What he said
“The key to prosperity is in institutions, not in culture or in geography.”
“The real danger is when economic inequality spills onto the political inequality.”
What others said
“[Acemoğlu's] thesis consisted of seven substantive chapters, each of which formed a paper in its own right. Each of these chapters was itself of very high quality. Indeed, I would consider even the weakest three of them to have been more than sufficient for the award of a Ph.D.” – James Malcolmson, doctoral thesis examiner
“Daron Acemoğlu’s scholarship are nothing short of breathtaking, verging on implausible. A co-author jokingly complained, 'He can write faster than I can digest his research.' Another economist suggests that his extraordinary productivity can only be explained by the existence of an identical twin.” – Douglas Clement, Editor, The Region
Noteworthy work