Economist Douglass North dies

Douglass C. North, an American economist who was a co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, has died. He was 95.

Speaking on behalf of North’s family, Washington University in St. Louis said he died Monday at his summer home in Benzonia, Michigan. A cause of death was not released.

North and Robert Fogel of the University of Chicago won the Nobel Prize for research that applied economic theory and quantitative methods to explain economic and institutional change.

The university said North spent much of his 60-year academic career pondering a simple question: Why do some countries become rich and others remain poor?

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton called North, “the very best of what we all aspire to be — a thoughtful man, a kind colleague, a generous university citizen.’’