Princeton Poverty Expert Wins Nobel in Economics

A Princeton professor renowned for his study of welfare, poverty, and individual consumer choices has won this year's Nobel in economics, reports the New York Times. In honoring Angus Deaton, 69, the Nobel panel noted that "to design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices," adding that "more than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding." Deaton is a Scottish economist who holds both US and British citizenship, notes the Telegraph. His work "has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics," says the Nobel panel.

In a phone call, Deaton said he was "surprised and delighted" upon getting the news, but he also spoke of weightier matters, including the world's refugee crisis. "What we are seeing now is the result of hundreds of years of unequal development in the rich world, which has left a lot of the world behind," he said, per the Guardian. The long-term solution is to reduce poverty in poor countries, but he doesn't see that happening "for a very long time." One of his most renowned accomplishments was co-creating the Almost Ideal Demand System in 1980, which "opened a new door in researching consumer behavior," notes NPR. (More economics stories.)