The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Ben Bernanke, the former Federal Reserve chairman, and two other academics who have helped reshape how the world understands the relationship between banks and financial crises.

Douglas Diamond, 68, of the University of Chicago and Philip Dybvig, 67, of Washington University in St Louis – two economists who created a seminal model that explained the dynamics of bank runs and financial meltdowns – won the prize alongside Mr Bernanke, 68, who is now at the Brookings Institution in Washington.