Nobel Prize in Economics goes to Angus Deaton

Mr. Deaton from Princeton University was awarded for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.

October 12, 2015 04:38 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 11:29 pm IST

Mr Angus Deaton, Prof of Economics an International Affairs, Princeton University at a book release titled 'The Great Indian Poverty Debate' in New Delhi on Tuesday, June 21, 2005. Photo: V.V. Krishnan.

Mr Angus Deaton, Prof of Economics an International Affairs, Princeton University at a book release titled 'The Great Indian Poverty Debate' in New Delhi on Tuesday, June 21, 2005. Photo: V.V. Krishnan.

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2015 was awarded to Angus Deaton of Princeton University, NJ, USA, "for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare". By linking detailed individual choices and aggregate outcomes, his research has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics.

The work for which Mr. Deaton is now being honoured revolves around three central questions: How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods?; How much of society's income is spent and how much is saved? and How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty?

After the Nobel Prize annoucement, Mr. Deaton answered some questions:

On current refugee crisis:

What is happening now is the result of 100s of years of unequal development in the rich world, which has left a lot of the world behind. Those people who have been left behind long for better life and that's putting enormous pressure on the boundaries between the rich world and the poor world.

The economics award officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel wasn’t created by Nobel, but by Sweden’s central bank in 1968. Though it’s handed out along with the other prizes and the criteria for selecting winners are the same, it’s not a Nobel Prize in the same sense.

Nobel Prize winners, 2015

Angus Deaton Economics

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2015 was awarded to Angus Deaton of Princeton University, USA, "for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare". By linking detailed individual choices and aggregate outcomes, his research has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics.

Physiology or MedicinePhysiology or MedicinePhysiology or MedicinePhysicsPhysicsChemistryChemistryPhysiology or MedicineLiterature
Physiology or Medicine

William C. Campbell

William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura won it for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.Their new drug, Avermectin and its derivatives have lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis

Satoshi Ōmura

William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura won it for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.Their new drug, Avermectin and its derivatives have lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis.

Youyou Tu

Youyou Tu won it for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy for malaria. Youyou Tu discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria.
Physics

Arthur McDonald

Mr. McDonald is a professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. The research group Mr. McDonald demonstrated that the neutrinos from the Sun were not disappearing on their way to Earth. Instead they were captured with a different identity when arriving to the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

Takaaki Kajita

Takaaki Kajita is from the University of Tokyo. Mr. Kajita discovered that neutrinos from the atmosphere switch between two identities when coming to Japan's Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector.
Chemistry

Tomas Lindahl

Mr. Lindahl is from the Francis Crick Institute. He demonstrated that DNA decays at a rate that ought to have made the development of life on Earth impossible.

Aziz Sancar

Mr. Sancar is from the University of North Carolina. He has mapped nucleotide excision repair, the mechanism that cells use to repair UV damage to DNA.

Paul Modrich

Mr. Modrich is from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University School of Medicine. "He demonstrated how the cell corrects errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division.
Literature

Svetlana Alexievich

The 67-year-old Belarusian author was awarded the Nobel "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time".

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