Ben Bernanke, former US Federal Reserve chief, wins Nobel Prize

Ben Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, is one of three recipients of this year's Nobel prize in economics.

The Nobel Foundation chose to recognise work by Mr Bernanke about the importance of preventing runs on banks.

He shared the prize with economists Douglas Diamond and Philip Hybvig.

The Nobel Foundation said their research had "improved our ability to avoid both serious crises and expensive bailouts".

Mr Bernanke's research showed how bank runs had prolonged the Great Depression in the 1930s.

He later applied some of those lessons during his time at the US Federal Reserve, which he led from 2006-2014.

Under his leadership, the Fed helped organise bailouts of some of America's biggest banks, moves that were politically controversial.

Mr Bernanke, who earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard and doctorate from MIT, previously worked as a professor of economics at Princeton and other universities. He also served as an advisor to former president George W Bush.

He is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.