Nobel Prize Winner: Armenia has not succeeded economically or politically.

· March 4, 2025

The transition from communism to a market economy and democracy has always been very difficult, but, for example, Poland and the Czech Republic have successfully managed it.

Daron Acemoglu, Nobel Prize winner in economics, said in an interview with The Bell.

“And one of the reasons for that is the significant help and guidance from the European Union,” he said.

But there are other important points, the economist added.

“Look at all the former Soviet republics: there is virtually none that has smoothly made its way to democracy.

The country that may have been the best prepared in terms of human capital and support abroad is Armenia. But Armenia has not succeeded economically or politically. So the fact that in many of these countries civil society was weak and the transition to the new system followed the same scenario as Yeltsin’s, when former communist cadres came to power and declared themselves leaders of independence, I think is the main problem,” he said.