Cambridge: Two researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Indian-origin Abhijit Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and Harvard University's Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics on Monday for groundbreaking research into what works and what doesn't in the fight to reduce global poverty.
The 46-year-old Duflo is the youngest ever to win the prize and only the second woman, after Elinor Ostrom in 2009. The three winners have worked together.
Banerjee and Duflo held a news conference at MIT on Monday following the announcement.
During the news conference Banerjee said, "I think it's still going to be wonderful for the movement that this prize was given because I think it's going to make it a little easier to penetrate the many doors that, you know, are half open to us are not quite open to us and hopefully bring the message of of policy based on evidence and hard thinking to many other places as well."
The trio revolutionized developmental economics by pioneering field experiments that generate practical insights into how poor people respond to educational, health care and other programs meant to lift them out of poverty.
Read also: Indian economy is on a shaky ground: Nobel awardee Banerjee
