Claudia Dale Goldin
Personal Information
Born: 1946
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Cornell University BA Economics 1967; University of Chicago MA Economics 1969 & PhD 1972 Industrial Organization & Labor Economics
"“When I first started working on this subject, I realized that most economic historians were studying child labor, or they were studying the labor of men,” said Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics. “But they didn’t really know what women were doing. And so that’s what I worked out.” (news.harvard.edu); "The solution isn't a simple one, but part of it is reducing the value of these 'greedy jobs,' getting jobs in which individuals are very good substitutes for each other and can trade off," she said. "And I know there are people who will tell me this is impossible. But in fact, it's done in obstetrics. It's done in anesthesiology. It's done in pediatrics. It's done in veterinary medicine. It's done in various banking decisions. And if it can be done in all of that with all the amazing IT that we have, we could probably do it elsewhere as well. " (npr.org); “We know the gender gap is widened enormously when families are formed. ... This doesn’t mean that women leave the workforce; it means that they take positions in which flexibility is cheaper. ... It’s the cost of flexibility that really matters." (investopedia.com); "
— Claudia Dale Goldin
Professional Life
Field of Study: Economics; Educator
Institution/Corporation: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Princeton University; University of Pennsylvania
Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degrees: University of Nebraska; Lund University; European University Institute; University of Zurich; Dartmouth College; University of Rochester; Brown University (2024); Boston University (2024); Simmons University (2024);Member: American Economics Association (President 2013); Economic History Association; American Academy of Political & Social Science; Society of Labor Economists; the Economic Society; American Academy of Arts & Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; American Philosophical Society (2015); Cliometric Society (2010);
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2023 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; 2016 IZA Prize in Labor Economics; 2020 Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics; 1990, 2008 & 2021 Laureate of the Richard A. Lester Award for the Outstanding Book in Industrial Relations & Labor Economics; 1991 Allan Sharlin Memorial Book Award, Social Science History Association; 2005 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award, American Economic Association; 2008 R.R. Hawkins Award, The Professional & Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers; 2009 Jacob Mincer Award, Society of Labor Economists; 2009 John R. Commons Award; 2019 BBVA Foundation Frontiers in Knowledge Award; 2020 Clarivate Citation laureate in Economic Sciences; 2021 Society for Progress Medal; 2022 Visionary Award, Council for Economics Education; 2023 BBC's 100 Women List; 2024 Women of the Year List, Time magazine; 2024 Miriam's Cup; 2022 Forbes 50 Over 50; 2000 Professional Achievement citation, University of Chicago; 2024 Alumni Medal, University of Chicago; 2024 Catalyst Award; 2002 The Minnesota Award; 1995 Galbraith Teaching Award, Harvard University; 1989 Irving Kravis Teaching Award, University of Pennsylvania
Achievements: best known for her work on women and the American economy especially the impact of the contraceptive pill on women's career and marriage decisions, the education of women and men together in higher education, the history of women's pursuit of career and family, women's last names after marriage as a social indicator, the reasons most undergraduates are now women, and the new life history of women's employment; in her book "Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women" (1990) she writes about the evolution of the female labor force in the United States and demonstrates that the gender wage gap has existed for centuries and has been shaped by social norms, labor market structures, and legal restrictions; "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter" (2014) is one of her most widely cited papers & underlines how making jobs more flexible would have a great impact on closing the gender gap; her book "Career and Family: Women's Century-Long Journey Toward Equity" (2021) is a comprehensive synthesis of her extensive research, examining how societal norms, economic forces, and personal choices intersect and have shaped women's lives and opportunities over the past century; introduced the concept of “greedy work,” in which employers in certain industries demand long hours — and reward the unencumbered (mostly male) workers who provide it;
is a co-director (co-directing with Claudia Olivetti and Jessica Goldberg) of the National Bureau of Economic Research's (NBER) Gender in the Economy study group
was the director of the NBER's Development of the American Economy program from 1989 to 2017
1990 became the first woman to be tenured in Harvard's economics department
was determined to become an archaeologist until she read Paul de Kruif's "Microbe Hunters" (1926) in middle school & was drawn to bacteriology
in her sophomore year of college she took an economics class with Alfred Kahn & switched her major to economics
was an editor of the Journal of Economic History, from 1984 to 1988
for 28 years ending in 2017 was the director of the Development of the American Economy (DAE) Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
is the 3rd female to win the Nobel in Economics & the only woman to have been the sole winner of the prize
one of the central findings of her research is that differences in pay and labor force participation are due not to biological differences but to differences in the division of unpaid caregiving responsibilities between heterosexual couples
other influential work of hers focuses on the history of women’s participation in higher education, including the reasons why women now comprise the majority of university undergraduate enrollment numbers; the impact of the contraceptive pill on women’s marriage and career decisions; the social indicator of women’s surnames after marriage; and the life cycle of women’s employment