Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

Illustration: © Nobel Prize Outreach, Ill. Niklas Elmehed

This week The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022 to Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond, and Philip H. Dybvig for research on banks and financial crises.

They have all published many articles on the topic and where should one begin? We have asked CBS professor Jesper Rangvid who also does research on banks and financial crises. He emphasises these key articles and gives a short introduction:

Diamond & Dybvig gets the prize for their theoretical article from 1983. In it they explain not only why we have banks and what frictions banks help to overcome, but also why banks are vulnerable and why we, because of that, experience financial crises. 
Diamond, & Dybvig, P. H. (1983). Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity. The Journal of Political Economy, 91(3), 401–419. https://doi.org/10.1086/261155

Bernanke’s article from 1983 shows us empirically, why troubles in the bank system can lead to the financial crisis. That is why it is so important, that banks do not get in trouble. When they do, we are all affected. 
Bernanke, B. S. (1983). Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression. The American Economic Review, 73(3), 257–276. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1808111

More articles by the Nobel Prize winners

Articles and books by Douglas W. Diamond

Articles and books by Philip H. Dybvig

Articles and books by Ben S. Bernanke

Bonus information

• The Royal Swedish Academy says that they have chosen the laureates because they have explained the central role of banks in financial crises. Read their reasoning

• Jesper Rangvid is Professor in Finance at CBS.
  Find more on his Blog (posts on banks and financial crises) or his homepage. You can find his research in CBS Research Portal.