TN CM greets Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo on Nobel win

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Tuesday congratulated Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo for winning the 2019 Nobel Economics prize and recalled the state government's association with the organization they are involved. Banerjee, Duflo, and another economist Michael Kremer had on Monday jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty." The chief minister extended his greetings on his behalf as well as that of the people of Tamil Nadu for the couple winning the Nobel.

"I extend my heartiest greetings to Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo for winning the 2019 Nobel Economics prize," he said in a statement. He recalled the Tamil Nadu government had inked a pact with J-PAL (The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab) in 2014, where Banerjee and Duflo are Directors.

So far, 15 kinds of research had been carried out in seven sectors as part of the understanding with J-PAL and the government was designing various welfare schemes in consultation with the two, besides many other economists, he added.