Contributed talk

Speaker: Rhonda Olson (Arizona State University)

Location and Time: SAS 201A, Saturday, 11:15–11:45 AM

Title: Why Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize is a big win for women 

Abstract: The 2023 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to Harvard University economist Claudia Goldin for "the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labor market participation through the centuries.” She is only the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics, and the first woman to not share the award with another person.

In this talk, I will highlight work from three of Goldin’s most important papers which:

1. uncover the link between women’s access to birth-control pills and their expanded career and educational choices, 

2. show how women have increasingly committed themselves to higher education and professional careers by delaying marriage and motherhood,

3. reveal how the gender wage gap is less about human capital differences but more about labor market rewarding long work hours and penalizing flexibility.

Economists say Goldin’s impact reaches far beyond academia, and encompasses more than women’s working lives. Her research has led to a better understanding of the forces that help women advance in their careers or hold them back. By learning about Goldin’s work, we can lead new conversations about women working in the mathematics community, academia and beyond.