1998 General Studies, all questions
UPSC Prelims 1998 · General Studies
Question 83: Economy and Social Development
Nobel Prize in Economics for the year 1997 was awarded for contribution in the area of
aInternational Economics
bFinancial Economics
cPublic Economics
dDevelopment Economics
AnswerThe answer is (b).
The 1997 Nobel Prize in Economics went to Robert Merton and Myron Scholes for a new method of valuing derivatives such as options, building on the Black-Scholes formula (Fischer Black had died in 1995). This is financial economics. The 1998 prize went to Amartya Sen for welfare economics, which is a common confusion.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) International economics is not the field of the 1997 prize.
- (b) Right: the prize honoured methods of valuing derivatives, a financial economics topic.
- (c) Public economics is not the field of the 1997 prize.
- (d) Development economics is not the field of the 1997 prize; Sen's 1998 prize was in welfare economics.
Explanation: written by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 1998, General Studies. UPSC's own paper isn't online; the words are from a published compilation. The paper on upsc.gov.in.