Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Claudia Goldin

Claudia Goldin has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for “presenting the first comprehensive analysis of women’s earnings and labor market participation over centuries.” The information was presented by the committee this Monday.

This year’s Nobel laureate is the third woman to receive the award out of 93 economics laureates.

The historian and Harvard University professor “advanced our understanding of women’s position in the labor market,” the Nobel jury said.

“Claudia Goldin’s research has given us new and often surprising insights into the historical and contemporary role of women in the workplace,” the Swedish Academy said.

Women are severely underrepresented in the global labor market and, when they work, they earn less than men, a Swedish academy has recalled.

Goldin researched archives and collected more than 200 years of data for the United States, “allowing her to show how and why gender differences in income and employment rates have changed over time.”

The academy recalled that “despite modernization, economic growth and an increase in the share of women in employment in the twentieth century, for a long period of time the wage gap between men and women practically did not decrease.”

According to the laureate, this is partly due to the fact that educational decisions that affect career opportunities throughout life are made at a relatively young age.

“If young women’s expectations are shaped by the experiences of previous generations (for example, their mothers who returned to work only when their children were older), development will be slow,” he argues.

The Swedish Academy reminds that historically, a large part of the income gap between the sexes is explained by differences in education and occupational choices.

“However, Goldin has demonstrated that most of this income gap now occurs between women and women working in the same occupation, and that it occurs primarily with the birth of the first child,” he explains.

During the 20th century, women’s educational levels increased steadily.

Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the award today in Stockholm.

The Economics Prize was established in 1968 by the Swedish central bank, officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, and is the last Nobel Prize to become known after the winners were announced in the medical categories. Physics, chemistry, literature and peace.

The Nobel Prizes, which will be awarded in December, represent a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million).

The winners will also receive an 18-karat gold medal and a diploma at awards ceremonies in December in Oslo and Stockholm.

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and his compatriots Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig for their work on banks and bailouts during financial storms.