It is important to use Nobel to harness the best of science, reasoning to policymaking | The Indian Express

It is important to use Nobel to harness the best of science, reasoning to policymaking | The Indian Express

Written by Kaushik Basu |Updated: October 15, 2019 9:54:36 am

The writer is C. Marks Professor at Cornell University and former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, World Bank.

It is important to use Nobel to harness the best of science, reasoning to policymaking

This is a richly-deserved award. The prize has been given for their work on randomised control trials used in the broad area of poverty eradication and policies for better health and education.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two of the three winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, speak at news conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., October 14, 2019. (Reuters Photo: Brian Snyder)

Last night our son, Karna, his wife and grandson dropped in for dinner. While chatting, conversation drifted to the Economics Nobel Prize this year, and we did some guessing and gossiping about who might get it. Karna predicted it would go to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer. We all agreed that would be a fantastic choice. The only question was, they are so young (58 years, 46 years and 54 years, respectively), would this happen this year would we have to wait for a few more years.