A trio of economists shares Nobel Prize

 A trio of economics scholars - a British-Cypriot and two Americans, including one nominated by President Barack Obama to the US Federal Reserve board, won the Nobel Prize in economics Monday. They were cited for their studies of markets and how mismatches between buyers and sellers can contribute to such problems as high unemployment.

Northwestern University professor Dale Mortensen, 71, shared the $1.5 million prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences with MIT professor Peter Diamond, 70, and British-Cypriot Christopher Pissarides, 62.

The prize committee said the trio's work had emerged as an important guide to why unemployment may remain high, even as new job opportunities emerge following the recession. Christopher Pissarides, a 62-year-old professor at the London School of Economics, who was born in Cyprus, said he believed he was working in an area where economists could be of real help to society.