A woman will share the Nobel Economics prize - becoming only the second female winner in the award's 50-year history - and the youngest at 46.

French-American Esther Duflo will share it equally with two others.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SECRETARY GENERAL, GORAN K. HANSSON, SAYING:

"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has today decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel for 2019 jointly to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

The Academy says the work of the three economists had shown how the problem of poverty could be tackled by breaking it down into smaller and more precise questions.

Focusing on areas such as education and healthcare, making problems easier to deal with.