(CNN) — Former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, along with Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig, were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday for their work on banks and financial crises.
Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was honored for his work on the Great Depression.
The group was recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for its work in the early 1980s, which the institute says laid the foundation for our modern understanding of why banks are necessary, their main vulnerabilities, and how their collapse can fuel financial crises.
Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, received the award for his research on the Great Depression. His work showed that bank runs were a decisive reason why the crisis became so severe and entrenched.
