Economics prize closes out 2023 Nobel season

US labor economist Claudia Goldin, a professor at Harvard, is a favorite to win the award, which is due to be announced at 11:45 am (09:45 GMT) in Stockholm.

Of all the Nobels, the economics has the fewest number of women who have won, with just two since it was first awarded in 1969—Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.

"Equality and diversity are priorities and the committee encourages it in the nominations," Micael Dahlen, a professor in marketing at the Stockholm School of Economics, told AFP.

"But the number one priority is to choose a field of research... which decides who the candidates can be," he continued.

Goldin's research, which has focused on inequality and the female labor force, ever remains on the agenda, Dahlen added.

Last year, the honor went to US economists Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig together with former Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke for research on banks in times of turmoil.

The pick has many commentators ruling out another win in the field of banking.

"In a wider sense the same subject matter can be rewarded one year after another, but it is more common that this is not the case," Mikael Carlsson, professor of economics at Uppsala University in Sweden explained.

US economist Douglas Diamond receiving last year's Nobel prize for economic from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm last November.

French economist Thomas Piketty is among the favorites to pick up the Nobel prize.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Iranian women's rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi, seen here in 2007.