STOCKHOLM: The Nobel prize in economics was on Monday awarded to American economist Claudia Goldin for research that has helped bring understanding to the role of women in the labour market.

The 77-year-old Harvard professor, who is the third woman to be awarded the prestigious economics prize, was given the nod “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes,” the jury said.

The Nobel is a “very important prize, not just for me, but for the many people who work in this field and who are trying to understand why there is so much change, but there are still large differences” in pay, Goldin told AFP in a telephone interview after the announcement.

By studying the history of women in the United States workforce, Goldin demonstrated factors that have historically influenced, and in some cases still influence, the supply and demand for women in the labour force, the jury explained. “She has demonstrated that the sources of the gender gap change over time,” Nobel committee member Randi Hjalmarsson told a press conference.

She added that while Goldin had not studied policy, her work had provided an “underlying foundation” that had different policy implications around the world.

200 years of data

Goldin, who was among the top names tipped to win, has “trawled the archives and collected over 200 years of data from the US,” the jury said.

“I just have to find the facts, figure it out and I’ll solve the problem,” Goldin told AFP.

Her research showed that female participation in the labour force had not always followed an upward trend but rather a “U-shaped curve”, as participation actually decreased with the transition from an agrarian to industrial society.

Participation then started to increase in the early 20th century with the growth of the service sector.

Her research showed the trends were the result of both “structural change and evolving social norms.” While much of the earnings gap historically could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices, Goldin “has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same occupation”.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023