American economist Claudia Goldin won the Nobel economics prize "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes". STOCKHOLM: The Nobel prize in economics was on Monday awarded to American economist Claudia Goldin for research that has helped bring understanding to the role of women in the labour market.
By studying the history of women in the United States workforce, Goldin demonstrated factors that have historically influenced, and in some cases still influence, the supply and demand for women in the labour force, the jury explained. Globally, about 50 per cent of women participate in the labour market compared to 80 per cent of men, but women earn less and are less likely to reach the top of the career ladder, the prize committee noted.The Nobel prize in economics has the fewest number of women laureates, with just two others since it was first awarded in 1969. They were Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019 - and Goldin is the first woman to receive the prize as the sole laureate.
"I just have to find the facts, figure it out and I'll solve the problem," Goldin, who also thinks of herself as a detective, told AFP. The economist herself explained that women in the United States had gained significant ground in their education level. The economics prize is the only Nobel not among the original five set out by the will of Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896, and was instead created through a donation from the Swedish central bank in 1968.