Research on consumption and poverty receives the Nobel Prize in 2015

Angus Deaton - Scottish scientist Angus Deaton has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the relationship between consumption, poverty and welfare.

Professor Angus Deaton received the Nobel Prize in Economics 2015

At 18:00 on October 12 (Hanoi time), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has just announced the owner of this year's Nobel Prize in Economics, which belongs to the Scottish scientist and University Professor. Princeton (USA) - Angus Deaton. His award-winning research addresses consumption, poverty and welfare.

Professor Angus Deaton is 69 years old. He was born in Edinburgh (Scotland), but currently teaches at Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. Here, he studied prosperity and economic development. Asked about the feeling after receiving the award message, he said that he only felt sleepy, due to the time difference (Mr. Deaton is in the US). But like everyone else, he was surprised and excited.

Picture 1 of Research on consumption and poverty receives the Nobel Prize in 2015
Professor Angus Deaton - owner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics (Photo: The Guardian).

Also during the phone call at the announcement ceremony, Professor Deaton received a question about the solution to hundreds of years of uneven development among countries that pushed the gap between rich and poor. Many countries are left behind and those who want a better life are under great pressure. He said poverty reduction in countries will solve this problem, but it will take a lot of time. In the short term, political stability in the war zones will help improve this situation.

In response to the question of whether you think the world 's extreme poverty is declining, Professor Deaton said this is true. However, he did not want to be a "blind optimist" . Because there are so many people in the world who are still poor. Many adults and children are suffering from serious health problems.

Commenting on the study of Mr. Deaton, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: 'To design economic policy to support welfare and reduce poverty, we must first understand the consumption choices of each personal. More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has raised this awareness. By linking personal choices to total income, his research has helped reform the microeconomics, macroeconomics and development economics'.

According to the agency, the three biggest contributions of the research award are: Finding out how consumers allocate spending on different types of goods; How are social incomes divided between consumption and savings; Finally, find the optimal method to measure and analyze wealth - poverty.

Economics is the last prize to be awarded in every Nobel season every year, following the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Literature and Peace. Nobel for the field of economics does not belong to the original award structure in the will of Swedish scientist - Alfred Nobel. Particularly, the prize for the economy has been added since 1968, on the 300th anniversary of the Central Bank of Sweden - Sveriges Riksbank, is also a fund contributor to this award.

However, the process of nomination, selection and awarding of Nobel Prize remains similar to other fields. The Nobel Prize-winning scientist will be awarded 8 million Swedish kronor (equivalent to US $ 980,000).

However, Nobel Economics also has its own features compared to other fields, "Economics is not applied science," Peter Englund - former Secretary-General of the Nobel Prize Committee said on the Nobel Foundation website. This award has always been controversial since its inception, because many people think it is more political than economic. Every year, critics repeat that Alfred Nobel did not intend to award economists at the beginning, AFP said.

Picture 2 of Research on consumption and poverty receives the Nobel Prize in 2015
Last year's Nobel Prize winner - French scientist Jean Tirole.(Photo: AFP).

They argue that these people are not reliable in judging economic crises and financial fluctuations. And now, economists have not yet figured out how to solve mass unemployment. Last year's winner - French scientist Jean Tirole was awarded the prize again for his research on how to manage and regulate large business empires in the market.

This year, analysts once said that the award committee will honor an economist with both theoretical research and practical experience through the financial crisis, such as Olivier Blanchard (France) - former economist. Chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Ben Bernanke (USA) - former Chairman of the Federal Reserve (FED).

However, a number of other names were also highly expected to be teachers of famous American universities, such as Avinash Dixit (India) of Princeton University, Robert Barro (USA) of Harvard University or Bengt. Holmstrom (Finland) of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.