Ben Bernanke, 2 others receive economics Nobel for work on financial crises

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded Monday to former Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond of the University of Chicago, and Philip Dybvig of Washington University for their work during the 1980s on banks and financial crises, The Wall Street Journal and CNN report.

Bernanke, who chaired the Fed during the 2008 financial crisis, received the award for his research on the Great Depression. Stockholm University economist John Hassler announced the prize, saying the laureates' work was crucial to understanding and addressing the 2008 crisis.

"The measures that were undertaken rest on the ideas that we recognize today," Hassler said.

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Diamond said the award came as a surprise, per the Journal. "I was sleeping very soundly, and then all of a sudden, off went my cellphone," he said.