Claudia Goldin wins Nobel prize in economics for research on women in the workplace
Newsflash: The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to US economist Claudia Goldin, for her work on women’s participation in the labour market.
Claudia Goldin, the Harvard-based economics professor, has won the biggest prize in economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.
Goldin is a pioneer in the field of gender economics, examining why the gender pay gap still exists today.
Goldin has shown that gender gaps will not necessarily close with economic development, and that economic growth does not always improve female labour market outcomes.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Goldin’s “groundbreaking research” has shown the underlying factors hurting women in the jobs market, and which barriers may need to be addressed.
They explain:
Despite modernisation, economic growth and rising proportions of employed women in the twentieth century, for a long period of time the earnings gap between women and men hardly closed. According to Goldin, part of the explanation is that educational decisions, which impact a lifetime of career opportunities, are made at a relatively young age. If the expectations of young women are formed by the experiences of previous generations – for instance, their mothers, who did not go back to work until the children had grown up – then development will be slow.
Historically, much of the gender gap in earnings could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices. However, Goldin has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same occupation, and that it largely arises with the birth of the first child.
She becomes the third woman to win the Nobel economics prize, after Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.
[This isn’t one of the original prizes funded by Alfred Nobel, but was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank].
Key events
Jason Furman, the former top economic adviser to President Obama, says Goldin’s success today is “fantastic”.
He also points us to his review of her book, Career and Family, which explained how the gender pay gap was due to institutional hurdles, rather than discrimination – and how having a child has a significant, negative impact on a woman’s earnings.
Fantastic! A pathbreaking scholar who has reshaped the way I think about inequality, women in the labor force force and much more. A generous mentor to generations of students.
If you want to read something broadly accessible check out Career and Family. https://t.co/nmEkeAG3Le https://t.co/GsvhLECnsA
— Jason Furman (@jasonfurman) October 9, 2023
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences do not, unfortunately, have Claudia Goldin on the phone to take questions from reporters – although they have said Goldin was ‘surprised and very, very glad’ to hear she had won.
One of the perils of holding the announcement around noon in Stockholm is that US-based economists tend to be asleep when the winning call comes.
This was a particular problem in 2019, when economist Robert Wilson, then 83, had to wake his colleague Paul Milgrom (then 72) to tell him they had won the prize for their work on auction theory.
Economist Randi Hjalmarsson adds that Goldin’s work has centred on the source of the gender pay gap, and how it has changed through history.
The source of the gender gap in wages, back in the industrialistion period, that was not due to discrimination, but the role of discrimination changed as we moved to offices.
She explains the source of the gap, and how it has changes over time, and changes with stages in development.
During the twentieth century, women’s education levels continuously increased, and in most high-income countries they are now substantially higher than for men. Claudia Goldin – awarded the 2023 prize in economic sciences – demonstrated that access to the contraceptive pill… pic.twitter.com/6WvntXpykV
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2023
Historically, much of the gender gap in earnings could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices. However, this year’s economic sciences laureate Claudia Goldin has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same… pic.twitter.com/MGWou9hHZx
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2023
Claudia Goldin’s work has shown that female participation in the labour market did not have an upward trend over a 200 year period.
Instread, it forms a U-shaped curve, with fewer women in employment as economies moved from agriculture in the industral revolution, but rose again as the service sector expanded.
The prize-awarding committee explain:
The participation of married women decreased with the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society in the early nineteenth century, but then started to increase with the growth of the service sector in the early twentieth century.
Goldin explained this pattern as the result of structural change and evolving social norms regarding women’s responsibilities for home and family.
This year’s economic sciences laureate Claudia Goldin showed that female participation in the labour market did not have an upward trend over a 200 year period, but instead forms a U-shaped curve.
The participation of married women decreased with the transition from an agrarian… pic.twitter.com/PFVNNy5NOw
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2023
BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2023 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Claudia Goldin “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes.”#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/FRAayC3Jwb— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2023
By trawling through the archives and compiling and correcting historical data, this year’s economic sciences laureate Claudia Goldin has been able to present new and often surprising facts. She has also given us a deeper understanding of the factors that affect women’s… pic.twitter.com/uxd4Q188KG
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2023
Q: What recommendations does Claudia Goldin make to close gender gaps in the workplace?
Economist Randi Hjalmarsson explains that Goldin does not explicitly study policy, or proscribe solutions:
She has described the problem, or the gender gap. It’s not even clear that it is a problem without understanding why it exists.
She has demonstrated that the sources of the gender gap change over time, and understanding what is underlying it is the first step to understanding what one might want do to – if one wants to do anything at all – to affect it.
Hjalmarsson adds that Goldin’s work has provided an “underlying foundation”, which has different policy implications for different countries around the world.
You can’t treat an illness with a medication without knowing what it is, and what causes it.
Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, tells reporters in Stockholm that Claudia Goldin was “surprised and very, very glad” to get the call this morning that she had won.
Claudia Goldin has been recognised for her work collecting over 200 years of data from the US, which showed how and why gender differences in earnings and employment rates have changed over time.
This work is very important, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences say, as women are vastly underrepresented in the global labour market and, when they work, they earn less than men.
Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, says:
“Understanding women’s role in the labour market is important for society.
Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future.
Claudia Goldin will receive 11 million Swedish kronor, or around $1m, as the sole winner of this year’s prize.
Claudia Goldin wins Nobel prize in economics for research on women in the workplace
Newsflash: The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to US economist Claudia Goldin, for her work on women’s participation in the labour market.
Claudia Goldin, the Harvard-based economics professor, has won the biggest prize in economics “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.
Goldin is a pioneer in the field of gender economics, examining why the gender pay gap still exists today.
Goldin has shown that gender gaps will not necessarily close with economic development, and that economic growth does not always improve female labour market outcomes.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Goldin’s “groundbreaking research” has shown the underlying factors hurting women in the jobs market, and which barriers may need to be addressed.
They explain:
Despite modernisation, economic growth and rising proportions of employed women in the twentieth century, for a long period of time the earnings gap between women and men hardly closed. According to Goldin, part of the explanation is that educational decisions, which impact a lifetime of career opportunities, are made at a relatively young age. If the expectations of young women are formed by the experiences of previous generations – for instance, their mothers, who did not go back to work until the children had grown up – then development will be slow.
Historically, much of the gender gap in earnings could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices. However, Goldin has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same occupation, and that it largely arises with the birth of the first child.
She becomes the third woman to win the Nobel economics prize, after Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.
[This isn’t one of the original prizes funded by Alfred Nobel, but was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank].