Angus Deaton awarded 2015 Nobel economics prize

Angus Deaton, a British academic, became the winner of the Nobel economics prize for 2015 for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.

His work focuses on health, wellbeing, and economic development.

The work for which Professor Deaton has been honored revolved around three questions:

• How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods?
• How much of society’s income is spent and how much is saved?
• How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty?

The Nobel Committee said the economist’s work had a major influence, particularly in public policy where it has helped governments determine how different social groups react to specific tax changes.

The 69-year old Princeton University professor is mostly known for the Deaton Paradox- that sharp shocks to income do not appear to cause equally large shocks to consumption.

Deaton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He obtained his PhD from Cambridge where he later taught. He holds both British and American citizenship.

He is currently the Dwight D Eisenhower professor of economics and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.