Esther Duflo becomes second woman to win Nobel prize in economics
Esther Duflo has become the second woman to win the Nobel prize in economics.
The French-American economist took the award alongside Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize on Monday.
The prize, officially referred to as Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, wasn't developed by the prize founder, but it is regarded as area of the Nobel stable of awards.
The prize was created by Riksbanken, the Swedish central bank, in 1968, and the first winner was selected a year later.
Mr Banerjee and Ms Duflo are generally at Massachusetts Institute of Technology while Mr Kremer is at Harvard University.
Incredibly humbling
Ms Duflo, who was woken up by Goran Hansson, secretary general from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday, asserted getting the prize “incredibly humbling”.
Ms Duflo is simply the second woman to win the economics prize, after Elinor Ostrom first got it in '09, and is also the youngest ever to get the economics award.
She said: “Showing that it's possible for a lady to succeed and become recognised for achievement I really hope is going to inspire many, a number of other women to carry on working and lots of other men to provide them the respect that they deserve like every single human being.”
Respect they deserve
With the glory comes a nine million-kronor (lb731,000) cash award, a gold medal and a diploma.
Last week, six Nobel prizes were given – medicine, physics and chemistry plus two literature awards, and also the coveted Peace Prize.
All however the winner from the Peace Prize receive their awards on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896, in Stockholm.
The winner from the Peace Prize receives the award in Oslo, Norway.
