Harvard Economics Professor Wins 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics
Contribution to research on women’s wage inequality in the labor market
Gloudia Goldin, a professor of economics at Harvard University who was selected as this year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics, is considered a person who has developed understanding of ‘women and the labor market’ through her research on the gender wage gap.
The Nobel Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on the 9th (local time) that it had selected Claudia Goldin, a labor economist and professor at Harvard University, as the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated the reason for the selection, saying, “Professor Goldin was selected as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for her contribution to advancing understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.”
Professor Goldin is considered a leader in women’s economic research, including gender-based income differences. Her representative research includes ‘Women’s Career and Family History’, ‘The Impact of Oral Contraceptives on Women’s Careers and Marriage’, and ‘Why Women’s College Attendance Rate Has Become Higher Than that of Men’.
He established that women’s labor participation forms a U-shaped curve. Married women’s labor participation decreased with the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society, but then increased with the growth of the service industry in the early 20th century.
Professor Goldin identified this process as a change in women’s responsibilities toward their families and that it is influenced by societal expectations of women.
He pointed out that, in society, women are given more responsibility for childcare, and the wage gap widens accordingly. For this reason, it was believed that contraceptive pills had a significant impact on women’s career extension and occupation.
Born in New York, USA in 1946, he majored in microbiology at Cornell University and received a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. She began her career as a professor at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1990, she became the first female tenured professor of economics at Harvard University.
In addition, he served as president of the American Economic Association from 2013 to 2014, and as president of the Economic History Association from 1999 to 2000. He is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, the Society of Labor Economists, the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He also received honorary doctorates from the National Academy of Sciences, the University of Nebraska, Lund University, Zurich University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Rochester.
Jakob Svensson, chairman of the Nobel Prize in Economics selection committee, said, “Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s research, we understand the role of women in the workforce and learn about the barriers that must be addressed in the future.”
Meanwhile, she is the third female Nobel Prize winner in economics, following Eleanor Ostrom in 2009 and Ester Duflo in 2019. Among the economics prize winners awarded since 1968, only 2 out of 92 are women.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.