Nobel prize in economics won by Banerjee, Duflo, Kremer

LONDON

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been jointly awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

The research conducted by the 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates "has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty," the academy said in a statement.

"In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research," it said.

This year’s Laureates have "introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty".

The academy said the new approach "divides this issue into smaller, more manageable questions -- for example, the most effective interventions for improving child health".

The experimental research methods by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, often with Michael Kremer "now entirely dominate development economics".

The Nobel prize in economic sciences is the final prize announced for this year with all other prizes announced last week.

"The 2019 Economic Sciences Laureates’ research findings have dramatically improved our ability to fight poverty in practice," the statement said.

"As a result of one of their studies, more than 5 million Indian children have benefitted from programs of remedial tutoring in schools," it added.