What We Can Learn From Claudia Goldin

Commemorating Dr. Claudia Goldin’s female labor force participation and gender earnings gap research, the Nobel Committee announced yesterday that she had been awarded the Economics Prize.

In a 40-page paper, the Committee summarized her work.

Let’s take a look.

A Document Roadmap

1. Dr, Goldin traced female labor market participation farther back than previous research.

With numbers starting during the 1700s, she was able to show that a 19th century decline preceded the 20th century rise:

2. She investigated the history of women working.

Proving that the closer you look, the more there is to see, she looked at women’s ages and historical eras:

3. She documented male-to-female earnings.

Gathering previously unavailable data, she compared female/male manufacturing earnings:

4. Then, taking many steps further, she focused on occupations.

Generating additional insight, here, she could tell us about wage differences within occupations as well as those between them:

5. Her work took her to education.

Below you can see the change in secondary school rates:

6. But most crucially, she saw why and when more women went to college.

Her research on education took her to birth control and the power of the pill. As she explained, when women could time motherhood, they could invest in the future:

7. And from College, they entered professional careers.

Having control over their own bodies, let women make decisions about marriage and undertake time-consuming careers:

Our Bottom Line: Policy Implications

While our graphs only skim the surface of her voluminous research, they provide clues about their practical application. As Dr. Goldin tells us, only when we know why women do not work outside the home and why we earn less can we create policies that correct the inequities.

As does the Nobel paper, our takeaway can be four conclusions:

• The source of the gender gap is not necessarily linear economic development.
• Investigating gender gaps we have to find the root causes.
• Goldin’s work also conveyed the speed of change.
• And finally, Claudia Goldin let us know why women’s view of the future plays a crucial role in the present.

My sources and more: In a 40 page paper, the Nobel people provided a summary of Dr. Goldin’s work. Correspondingly, at econlife, we have written about her research here, and here,.

However, to really get a sense of who she is, do listen to this Steve Levitt interview: