Doctor of Sciences Maltsev explained why Claudia Goldin received a Nobel in economics

The selection of the committee was a sensation

The last Nobel Prize laureate this year was named in Stockholm – in the field of economics. The prize was awarded to American Claudia Goldin “for improving understanding of the role of women in the labor market.” From a formal point of view, this choice became a sensation: among experts, the name Goldin was heard less often than other contenders for the Nobel. Although, if you take a closer look at her merits, there is no sensation: everything is absolutely to the point.

Let us remind you that the current award is not directly related to Alfred Nobel. In his 1895 will, the famous Swedish chemist, philanthropist, inventor and successful businessman did not mention economists, whom he openly disliked. For exactly the same reason, his descendants do not support the nomination. The Nobel Prize in Economics was established in 1968 by the Swedish Bank to celebrate its 300th anniversary. Compared to last year, the cash component increased by 1 million Swedish kronor (to 10 million, or about $1.1 million).

Meanwhile, in the list of potential winners this year, Claudia Goldin did not look like an absolute favorite. The first positions in the forecast shortlist of the authoritative organization Clarivate included the names of other outstanding economists of our time: Edward Glaeser and Raj Chetty from Harvard University, representatives of the Paris School of Economics Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman, Emmanuel Saez from the University of California. All of them are engaged in research in one form or another related to the problems of social and economic inequality. In general, according to Swedish experts, guessing the name of the Nobel Prize winner in economics is especially difficult, since there are at least 250 worthy contenders in the world.

But now all the guessing is over – the winner has been named. Claudia Goldin was born in 1946 in New York. She received her doctorate in 1972, is a professor at Harvard University and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences. The Nobel committee said in a statement that Goldin “has uncovered key reasons for gender differences in employment.” By combing through archives and compiling more than 200 years of data across the United States, she is the first to provide a comprehensive account of how the high gender pay gap emerged and persists today. Until 2023, only two women had been awarded the economic Nobel: Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019, who, at the age of 46, was the youngest awarded in this field. Additionally, 67 of the 92 honorees (including Goldin) are American citizens. At the same time, only one Soviet scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics – Leonid Kantorovich in 1975 (albeit together with the Dutch-American Tjalling Koopmans). Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Kantorovich tried to optimize the planned Soviet economy with his work. But he found recognition in the West “for his contribution to the theory of optimal resource allocation.”

“As a person interested in history, I am glad that the 2023 prize will go to a student of Nobel laureates Robert Fogel and Gary Becker, Claudia Goldin from Harvard,” says Alexander Maltsev, Doctor of Economics, acting head of the Department of Political Economy at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. – Although Goldin is an excellent economic historian, it is not typical for her to study history for history’s sake. She deals with the past for the sake of the future, with the goal of shedding light on the pressing problems of our time. Her research is very rich in empirical material; it allows us to better understand how women were integrated into the economy and what the dynamics of changes in gender pay gaps were. Now these works have entered the golden fund of modern economic science. In addition, they are distinguished by a deep historical retrospective: they provide an understanding of how the role of women changed as the economy evolved – from the agrarian stage to the industrial and post-industrial stage.”

The name of a Nobel Prize winner always contains an element of surprise in a good way. The choice in favor of Goldin, in the opinion of MK’s interlocutor, reflects the changes taking place in modern economic science. Which, firstly, is becoming increasingly empirical. Secondly, modern research is based on large amounts of data (often buried in the past). Thirdly, modern economists do not at all isolate themselves from the world in the sphere of pure theory, but try to propose ways to solve pressing socio-economic problems. Features of the long-term evolution of labor markets are a pressing topic. When these three components – empiricism, retrospect and severity of the problem – are organically combined, the chances are high that a person will sooner or later be awarded a high academic award. This is rightly what happened to Goldin, Maltsev sums up.