The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and James A. Robinson of the University of Chicago for their work on "how institutions are formed and affect prosperity."
Research on this topic is paramount to understanding why certain countries thrive economically while others are left impoverished. This phenomenon is most evident in Africa, where Western empires used the racist claim of "civilizing" populations as an excuse to steal resources and enslave people. The West is rich today thanks to the plundering of African land and forced labor of African people.
Whether it be the Romans conquering Britain, the British conquering Scotland, or European imperialism in Africa, all of these undeveloped lands were in the dark culturally and economically before more advanced societies took them over. If you look at the countries never colonized by imperial powers, they remained the most impoverished countries on Earth.