​American economic historian Claudia Goldin has been honored with this year's Nobel economics prize for her groundbreaking research on women's employment and pay. She is only the third woman to receive the award, and notably, the first without sharing it with male colleagues.

Goldin, currently a professor at Harvard University, has contributed significantly to understanding the gender pay gap. Her research, spanning two centuries of data on the US workforce, elucidates the factors influencing changes in gender disparities in earnings and employment rates over time. Goldin's work highlights that the gender pay gap, largely attributed to the impact of having children, persists despite advancements such as higher education for women and the availability of the contraceptive pill.

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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences praised her comprehensive account of women's earnings and labor market participation throughout history, crediting her with uncovering the causes of change and the remaining gender gap.

Goldin's findings have far-reaching implications for society. Randi Hjalmarsson, a committee member awarding the prize, describes her as a "detective" whose work provides a foundation for policymakers worldwide. The committee notes that, globally, women's labor market participation hovers around 50%, compared to 80% for men. Yet, women earn less and are less likely to attain top career positions.

Goldin, the first woman to receive tenure in Harvard's economics department in 1989, addressed the discipline's image problem regarding gender, emphasizing its relevance to issues like inequality, health, household behavior, and society.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, established in 1968 and funded by Sweden's central bank, has only seen two other female laureates: Elinor Ostrom in 2009, and Esther Duflo in 2019, who shared the award with her husband and colleague Abhijit Banerjee, and Michael Kremer, for their research on impoverished communities in India and Kenya.