NEW YORK (AP) — Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with a 7-6 (0), 7-5 victory Thursday over Taylor Townsend and Donald Young, who fell just short of a Grand Slam title in his final match before retiring.
Errani, who won a career Grand Slam in women's doubles with fellow Italian Roberta Vinci, added her first career mixed doubles title to the Olympic gold medal in women's doubles she won last month with Jasmine Paolini.
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Donald Young, right, and Taylor Townsend, of the United States, talk to the crowd after loosing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, react in the first set against Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, hold up the championship trophy after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, hold up the runner-up trophy after losing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, react after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Donald Young, right, and Taylor Townsend, of the United States, talk to the crowd after loosing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, react in the first set against Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, hold up the championship trophy after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, hold up the runner-up trophy after losing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, react after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
“It’s incredible for me this year. It’s amazing,” Errani said.
Townsend and Young, who have been friends since they were kids, were given a wild card into the event for what was the 35-year-old Young's final tournament. The former top-ranked junior hadn't played much in recent years, having made the switch to pickleball.
“Obviously wasn’t the result we wanted,” Young said, “but I can’t think of a better spot, place to go out in, having watched that as a kid, and playing with someone I’ve known our whole life. It’s pretty cool for me.”
He and Townsend made their way through the draw, knocking off defending champions Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovarra in the quarterfinals.
But Errani and Vavassori, the No. 3 seeds, dominated the tiebreaker and then won the match by breaking Townsend's serve.
Errani hadn't played a mixed doubles event for eight years before partnering with Vavassori at Wimbledon. They were knocked out in the first round, then reached the quarterfinals at the Olympics before coming to New York.
Young's parents coached Townsend, who lost in the women's doubles semifinals with Katerina Siniakova after they won the Wimbledon title.
The 28-year-old Townsend said after the match that she hoped fans seeing two Black players in the finals, after Coco Gauff won the women's title in Flushing Meadows last year and Frances Tiafoe is in the men's semifinals Friday, would inspire more of them to play.
Young was then presented with a framed collage of photos of himself playing at the U.S. Open.
“For me, Donald and I, we go so far back. I mean, in life in general,” Townsend said. "It’s not the end. We both live in Atlanta, so I’m going to see him a ton and follow what he’s doing in the next chapter. But it’s cool to be able to close the book this way. Again, being able to leave here with some hardware when a lot of people didn’t, that’s the most special thing.
“So, I mean, it’s fantastic. I’m glad to be able to do it by his side.”
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Donald Young, right, and Taylor Townsend, of the United States, talk to the crowd after loosing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, react in the first set against Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, hold up the championship trophy after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, hold up the runner-up trophy after losing to Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, during the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Sara Errani, of Italy, and Andrea Vavassori, of Italy, react after defeating Taylor Townsend, of the United States, and Donald Young, of the United States, in the mixed doubles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research that explains why societies with poor rule of law and exploitative institutions do not generate sustainable growth.
The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.
Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago.
“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said.
He said their research has provided "a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.”
Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he is due to speak at a conference, the Turkish-born Acemoglu, 57, said he was surprised and shocked by the award.
“You never expect something like this," he said.
Acemoglu said the research honored by the prize underscores the value of democratic institutions.
“I think broadly speaking the work that we have done favors democracy,” he said in a telephone call with the Nobel committee and reporters in Stockholm.
But he added that “democracy is not a panacea. Introducing democracy is very hard. When you introduce elections, that sometimes creates conflict.”
Asked about how economic growth in countries like China fits into the theories, Acemoglu said that "my perspective is generally that these authoritarian regimes, for a variety of reasons, are going to have a harder time ... in achieving ... long-term sustainable innovation outcomes.”
Acemoglu and Robinson wrote the 2012 bestseller “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty,’’ which argued that manmade problems were responsible for keeping countries poor.
In their work, the winners looked, for instance, at the city of Nogales, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
Despite sharing the same geography, climate, many of the same ancestors and a common culture, life is very different on either side of the border. In Nogales, Arizona, to the north, residents are relatively well-off and live long lives; most children graduate from high school. To the south, in Mexico’s Nogales, Sonora, “residents here are in general considerably poorer. ... Organized crime makes starting and running companies risky. Corrupt politicians are difficult to remove," the Nobel committee wrote.
The difference, the economists found, is a U.S. system that protects property rights and gives citizens a say in their government.
Acemoglu expressed worry Monday that democratic institutions in the United States and Europe were losing support from the population. “Democracies particularly underperform when the population thinks they underdeliver," he said. “This is a time when democracies are going through a rough patch. … It is, in some sense, quite crucial that they reclaim the high ground of better governance."
The economists also studied the institutional changes that European powers such as Britain and Spain put in place when they colonized much of the world starting in the 1600s. They brought different policies to different places, giving later researchers a “natural experiment" to analyze.
Colonies that were sparsely populated offered less resistance to foreign rule and therefore attracted more settlers. In those places, colonial governments tended to establish more inclusive economic institutions that “incentivized settlers to work hard and invest in their new homeland. In turn, this led to demands for political rights that gave them a share of profits,” according to the Nobel committee.
In more densely populated places that attracted fewer settlers, the colonial regimes limited political rights and set up institutions that focused on “benefiting a local elite at the expense of the wider population ... Paradoxically, this means that the parts of the colonized world that were relatively the most prosperous around 500 years ago are now those that are relatively poor.” India’s industrial production, for example, exceeded the American colonies’ in the 18th century.
The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes.
Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.
Nobel honors were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace.
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, stands in an elevator after speaking to the media during a conference in Athens, Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
This image provided by the The University of Chicago shows James A. Robinson, one of three winners of the Nobel memorial prize in economics. (The University of Chicago via AP)
Economist Daron Acemoglu, 2024 Nobel prize winner in Economics, speaks to the media during a conference in Athens , Greece, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Journalists listen when Jan Teorell of the Nobel assembly announces the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology smiles in this image taken on June 22, 2019 in Kiel, Germany, as he and Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson won the Nobel prize in economics for research into reasons why some countries succeed and others fail. (Frank Molter, dpa via AP, File)
The Nobel memorial prize in economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Academy of Sciences permanent secretary Hans Ellegren, center, Jakob Svensson, left, and Jan Teorell, of the Nobel assembly announce the Nobel memorial prize in economics winners, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A Robinson, seen on screen, during a press meeting at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday Oct. 14, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
The Nobel economics prize is being announced in Sweden
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
