Acemoglu was born on September 3, 1967. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of York, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he earned a Master of Science degree in 1990 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1992. His doctoral dissertation, titled Essays in Microfoundations of Macroeconomics: Contracts and Economic Performance, examined theoretical foundations of macroeconomic performance with particular emphasis on contracts and incentives.

Following the completion of his doctoral studies, Acemoğlu began his academic career as a lecturer in economics at the London School of Economics during the 1992–1993 academic year. In 1993 he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of economics. He was promoted to associate professor in 1997 and to full professor in 2000.

Over the course of his career at MIT, Acemoglu has held several named professorships. From 2004 to 2010 he served as the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics, and from 2010 to 2019 he held the Elizabeth and James Killian Professorship of Economics. In 2019 he was appointed Institute Professor, the highest faculty distinction at MIT.

Acemoğlu’s research spans several fields within economics, including political economy, economic development, economic growth, labor economics, and the economics of technological change. His work frequently examines how political institutions and social structures shape economic outcomes. Additional research topics include income and wage inequality, human capital formation, labor market dynamics, and network economics.

A substantial portion of his scholarship analyzes the role of institutions in shaping long-run economic development. In this line of research, Acemoğlu and collaborators investigate how political arrangements, property rights, and state capacity influence economic growth and distributional outcomes. His work also explores how technological change interacts with labor markets, automation, and inequality.

Acemoğlu has authored or co-authored several books and numerous academic articles. His book-length works include:

• Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (with James A. Robinson, 2006)
• Introduction to Modern Economic Growth (2009)
• Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (with James A. Robinson, 2012)
• Principles of Economics (with David Laibson and John List, 2014)
• The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (with James A. Robinson, 2019)
• Power and Progress: Our One Thousand Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity (with Simon Johnson, 2023)

In addition to books, Acemoğlu has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals such as the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, and Econometrica. His articles address a range of topics including institutional development, political transitions, automation, labor markets, and technological innovation.

Acemoğlu has received numerous academic honors throughout his career. Among them is the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded in 2005 by the American Economic Association to an economist under the age of forty for significant contributions to the field. In 2012 he received the Nemmers Prize in Economics.

He has also been elected to several scholarly academies, including the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2024 he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Acemoğlu has served in a number of editorial and professional roles within the economics profession. He has been co-editor and later editor-in-chief of the journal Econometrica, and he has served on editorial boards of several major journals in economics. He has also participated in committees and governance roles within organizations such as the American Economic Association and the Econometric Society.