Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

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Facts

• On Monday, Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her research into the causes of wage and labor market inequality between men and women.¹
• After studying more than 200 years of US data, Goldin could successfully show that variations in education and job type historically accounted for much of the gender wage gap.²
• Goldin, the first woman to be granted tenure at Harvard's economics department, is only the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics and the first to receive it solo.³
• According to the Nobel committee, Goldin could explain the shrinking gender gap in the 1980s as well as reveal 'the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future.'⁴
• While 50% of women participate in the labor market compared to 80% of men, they reportedly earn less and are less likely to shatter the glass ceiling.⁵
• Last year, the Nobel Prize in Economics went to American economists Douglas W. Diamond and Philip Dybvig for their investigation into bank failures, which reportedly influenced the US reaction to the 2007-08 Great Recession.⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²CNN, ³Reuters, ⁴NPR Online News, ⁵BBC News and ⁶Euronews.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Harvard gazette. Claudia Goldin is a trailblazing economist whose most influential papers have concerned the history of women in their quest for career and family, coeducation in higher studies, the impact of birth control pills on career and marriage decisions, surnames after marriage as a social indicator, and why women now comprise the majority of undergraduates. This well-deserved Nobel award merits commendation.
• Narrative B, as provided by Wall street journal. While Goldin's award deserves maximum recognition, it must be asked: why have so few women been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, given that women make up half of humanity? The Nobel Prize is an outdated mode of scientific recognition that was historically — and remains — biased towards men and those working in the Western world. It's time the Nobel is replaced entirely with an award that incentivizes cooperation and eliminates the bias against women.

Predictions