London CNN Business —Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday for their work on banks and financial crises.
Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 global financial crisis, received the award for his research on the Great Depression.
While Bernanke served as chair, the central bank pioneered a program of quantitative easing, buying up assets to help stimulate economic growth.
The Nobel prize, officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, comes with an award of 10 million Swedish kronor ($885,370) to be split equally among the laureates.
It was not instituted by Alfred Nobel, but established by Sweden’s central bank and awarded in memory of Nobel.