University of Chicago prof, former Fed chair Bernanke share Nobel for research on banks

Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke. (AP file)

STOCKHOLM — Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who put his academic expertise on the Great Depression to work reviving the American economy after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences along with two other U.S.-based economists for their research into the fallout from bank failures.

Bernanke was recognized Monday, along with University of Chicago professor Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig. The Nobel panel at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm said the trio’s research had shown “why avoiding bank collapses is vital.”