Claudia Goldin is the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University. She is the winner of the 2023 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her exceptional contributions to the field by advancing the understanding of women’s progress in the work force.
Claudia Dale Goldin was born in 1946 to Jewish parents in the Bronx, New York City. Her father, Leon Goldin, worked as a data processing manager, while her mother, Lucille Rosansky Goldin, worked as the assistant principal of Public School 105 in the Bronx. Goldin credits her career aspirations to her mother’s encouragement and influence as a highly educated individual. Initially Goldin aspired to be an archaeologist, then became interested in microbiology. But after an inspiring economic class at Cornell University, she found her passion in economics.
After earning her B.A. in economics from Cornell, Goldin obtained a PhD in economics at the University of Chicago. After graduate school, Goldin taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania before joining the economics department at Harvard University in 1990, where she was the first woman to be offered tenure in that department. Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook, was an undergraduate student studying economics when Goldin arrived at Harvard. She and her friends were so thrilled that they threw a welcome reception for her. It really meant something to them to see a woman achieve a leadership position in the male-dominated field of economics.
Goldin is married to fellow Harvard economist Lawrence F. Katz. She has had Golden Retrievers ever since 1970. Pika, their current dog, is widely recognized for her excellence in competitive scenting and is a therapy dog at a local nursing home. She frequently posts Pika’s achievements, including her recent “bark mitzvah.”
When Goldin was a young economic historian in a male-dominated field, she was searching for her niche. She began tracking the disparity in earnings for women in the U.S. labor market and collected over 200 years of data. She realized that women in the 1970s, particularly wives and mothers, were increasing in number in the American labor force due to more employment opportunities in education and the service industry. In addition, the development of contraceptives resulted in later marriage and independence in family planning, giving women more flexibility to have a career. While women made great advances in the 1970s and 1980s, that progress hit roadblocks in the years since.
Despite women being the majority of college undergraduates and despite increased employment opportunities for women, there remain significant gaps in earnings between men and women. Today, women in the United States make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes, resulting in over $500 billion in total being deprived annually for women. While the difference at first was explained by the divergence in career paths (women working in lower-paying occupations), it now primarily occurs in the same jobs. Notably, the earnings divergence kicks in after the birth of a woman’s first child.
The main problem amidst tremendous progress for women is what Goldin calls “greedy jobs.” Professional jobs in management, finance, law, and academia demand many, many hours. Women who start their careers in these greedy jobs have to take a step back to raise families and tend not to advance as far or as fast in their careers as men.
Thus, Goldin argues that anti-discrimination laws and unbiased managers are not enough to achieve gender equality in the workplace. There is a need for fundamental changes in the way society values caregiving. “We’re never going to have gender equality in the workplace until we also have couple equity,” she said. While there has been monumental progress in acceptance of women in the workplace, women still are tied back to doing more work in the home. In other words, for women to excel in the workplace and to have a family requires a supportive spouse who shares equally in home responsibilities and values both of their careers equally. “It might be costly for a while, but it just depends on how much you value couple equity,” Goldin said. “It’s not that they’ve [men] given something up, it’s that they’ve gotten something in return – which is time with their children.”
Goldin also has explored the historic role of Jews in the marketplace, shedding light on their economic contributions.
Goldin’s involvement and impact extends beyond academia. She co-directs the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Gender in the Economy initiative, was the president of the American Economic Association in 2013/14 and the president of the Economic History Association in 1999/2000. She was an editor of the Journal of Economic History from 1984 to 1988, and the editor of the NBER Long-term Factors in Economic Development Monograph Series from 1990 to 2017.
Goldin has received numerous awards and prizes for her research and books. She also has received six honorary doctorates including the University of Nebraska, Lund University, the European University Institute, the University of Zurich, Dartmouth College, and the University of Rochester.
In October 2023, Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Committee Chair noted that Goldin’s research “provided the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labour market participation through the centuries. Her research reveals the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap.” She is the third woman to receive this award and the first woman to win it solo. Asked about what it meant for a woman to win the economics award on her own, Dr. Goldin said it marked a “culmination after years of important changes toward more gender diversity in the field of economics.” “She got the Nobel Prize for her work on women and the labor market,” said Sheryl Sandberg, “so she’s a woman doing work on women—and that really matters.”
“Understanding women’s role in the labour market is important for society. Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.
Goldin believes that passion is imperative for excellence. “Whatever you research,” she wrote, “choose a subject about which you feel passionately. You will go to sleep with it and you will wake up with it, so you better love it.” Claudia Goldin’s legacy continues to inspire current research on women in the labor market and empower women in the workforce.