Indian-American Among Awardees For Nobel In Economics

Indian origin Abhijit Banerjee along with two others, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.

BREAKING NEWS:
The 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/SuJfPoRe2N

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2019

The research conducted by the 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research, the Nobel Committee said.

Over 700 million people still subsist on extremely low incomes. Every year, five million children still die before their fifth birthday, often from diseases that could be prevented or cured with relatively cheap and simple treatments.#NobelPrize

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2019

This year’s Laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty. It divides this issue into smaller, more manageable questions – for example, the most effective interventions for improving child health.

In the mid-1990s, Economic Sciences Laureate Michael Kremer and his colleagues demonstrated how powerful an experiment-based approach can be, using field experiments to test a range of interventions that could improve school results in western Kenya.#NobelPrize

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2019

2019 Economic Sciences Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, often with Michael Kremer, soon performed similar studies of other issues and in other countries, including India. Their experimental research methods now entirely dominate development economics, the Committee said. 

The 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates’ research findings have dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice. As a result of one of their studies, more than 5 million Indian children have benefitted from programmes of remedial tutoring in schools.#NobelPrize

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2019

With the glory comes a 9 million-kronor ($918,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma. All but the winner of the Peace Prize will receive their awards on December 10 in Stockholm.