A trio of economists on Monday won the Nobel Economics Prize for their work in the fight against poverty, including with new approaches in education and healthcare, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
Indian-born Bangali Abhijit Banerjee is an American citizen while Esther Duflo is French-American. Michael Kremer is also from the US.
Banerjee, his wife Duflo and Kremer were honoured "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty," the jury said.
"This year's laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty," the jury said.
The three found efficient ways of combatting poverty by breaking down difficult issues into smaller, more manageable questions, which can then be answered through field experiments, the jury said.
"They have shown that these smaller, more precise, questions are often best answered via carefully designed experiments among the people who are most affected," it said.
"As a direct result of one of their studies, more than five million Indian children have benefitted from effective programmes of remedial tutoring in schools. Another example is the heavy subsidies for preventive healthcare that have been introduced in many countries," the jury said.
Duflo is only the second woman to win the Nobel Economics Prize in its 50-year existence, following Elinor Ostrom in 2009.
Banerjee, 58, was educated at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Harvard University, where he received his PhD in 1988.
His wife Duflo, 47, was born in Paris and is currently a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also has a PhD from MIT.
Michael Kremer, 55, is a professor at Harvard University and has a PhD from the university. The prize amount of $914,000 will be shared equally between the three Laureates.-AFP
