Nobel laureate and prominent economist Daron Acemoglu has agreed to serve as an adviser to Our Way, the political movement founded by detained Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan.
In a video message shared by the movement on October 13, Acemoglu outlined his views on the potential directions for Armenia’s economic development and said he would contribute as an expert to drafting Our Way’s (Mer Dzevov) economic program.
Movement coordinator Narek Karapetyan, the billionaire’s nephew, confirmed that Acemoglu would participate in the working group shaping their national development strategy, calling it “milestone partnership for rebuilding Armenia’s economy on modern foundations.”
Turkish-born Armenian–American Acemoglu, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of the world’s most-cited economists. He received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, shared with fellow researchers James Robinson and Simon Johnson, for their work on “the origins of prosperity and the political economy of development.” Their studies demonstrated how inclusive political and economic institutions foster sustainable growth, while extractive systems lead to stagnation — ideas popularized in Acemoglu and Robinson’s best-selling 2012 book Why Nations Fail
Following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, Acemoglu was courted by the new government, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan inviting Acemoglu to advise on economic reforms. However, Armenian media at the time reported disagreements over financial terms, which officials, including former Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan, denied. The government later said it had declined to follow Acemoglu’s proposed reform plan, effectively ending the engagement before it began.
The Our Way movement, founded by Samvel Karapetyan from detention, has become one of the most closely watched emerging political forces ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections. Karapetyan, owner of the Russia-based Tashir Group conglomerate and one of Armenia’s wealthiest figures, was arrested in June on charges of inciting “public calls to seize power” after publicly defending the Armenian Apostolic Church during a government dispute with the clergy.
