The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday, that the Nobel Prize in Economics for this year has been awarded to the American economist Claudia Goldin for her work on the role of women in the labor market.
The prize committee stated that the 77-year-old laureate, the third woman to receive this prestigious award, “has enhanced our understanding of the position of women in the labor market.”
The committee further noted, “Claudia Goldin’s research has often provided us with fresh and astonishing insights into the historical and contemporary roles of women in the labor market.”
Randi Hjalmarsson, a member of the Nobel committee, explained that Goldin delved into archives and collected data spanning over two hundred years in the United States, allowing her to demonstrate how and why income and employment disparities between men and women have evolved over time.
The Nobel Prize in Economics is the final award in the annual Nobel Prize ceremony and is valued at 11 million Swedish kronor (nearly $999,137).
Economists have dominated the Nobel Prize in Economics since its inception in 1969. Until now, only two women had received the prize: American economist Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and French-born American researcher Esther Duflo in 2019.
Last year, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and economists Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig for their research on central banks and “how society deals with financial crises.”
As with the other Nobel Prize announcements made last week, the official Nobel Prize ceremony will take place in Stockholm on December 10, coinciding with the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
