The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has said that the research conducted by this year’s Laureates has considerably improved the ability to fight global poverty. It added that they have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty.
Abhijeet Banerjee, 58, was educated at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D in 1988. He is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
With Banerjee, Duflo wrote Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, which won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2011 and has been translated into more than 17 languages. Duflo, the 46-year-old former advisor to ex-US president Barack Obama, is the second woman and the youngest ever to win the economics prize.
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined a euphoric nation in wishing Banerjee on a rare feat.
In a tweet, the President said: Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer on winning “the Nobel prize” in economic Science “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Their research has helped economists better understand how to fight poverty in India & the world,
PM Narendra Modi congratulated Abhijit Banerjee on winning the Nobel Prize for Economics, saying he has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.
PM Tweeted: “Congratulations to Abhijit Banerjee on being conferred the 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. He has made notable contributions in the field of poverty alleviation.”
He also congratulated Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for winning the Nobel.