Ex-Fed chief Bernanke, 2 other US economists win Nobel Prize

Former US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S Bernanke and two economists Douglas W. Diamondand Philip H. Dybvig have been awarded the 2022 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their research into banks and financial crises.

Douglas W. Diamond, an economist at the University of Chicago, and Philip H. Dybvig at Washington University in St. Louis won the prize alongside Mr. Bernanke, who is now at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The committee said that the three laureates have significantly improved our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises, and an important finding in their research is why avoiding bank collapses is vital.

“Modern banking research clarifies why we have banks, how to make them less vulnerable in crises and how bank collapses exacerbate financial crises. The foundations of this research were laid by Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, and Philip Dybvig in the early 1980s. Their analyses have been of great practical importance in regulating financial markets and dealing with financial crises,” the Nobel announcement read.

The prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000) and will be handed out on December 10.