​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.

​