This year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to the former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke and two US-based economists, Douglas W Diamond and Philip H Dybvig, for research on banks and financial crises. The prize was announced today by the Nobel panel at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.<br />''<br />''The Committee said their work had shown in their research "why avoiding bank collapses is vital." Nobel prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor.