Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics
-
0:00 - 0:02- [Claudia] When you do
economic research, -
0:03 - 0:06you have three pieces.
-
0:06 - 0:07I think of them as balls
-
0:07 - 0:11that I want floating up
all the time. -
0:11 - 0:12I'm juggling them,
-
0:13 - 0:16and one of them is the idea.
-
0:16 - 0:18I have to begin with
"What's the question, -
0:18 - 0:19what's important?"
-
0:19 - 0:21♪ [music] ♪
-
0:21 - 0:22- [Narrator] Economists --
-
0:22 - 0:26not a group with a lot
of Marys, Natashas, or Juanitas, -
0:26 - 0:29and that's caused
a lot of controversy. -
0:29 - 0:33However, what's often overlooked
are the actual female economists -
0:33 - 0:36who are pushing economics forward
by addressing real-world issues. -
0:37 - 0:40Welcome to Women in Economics.
-
0:45 - 0:47- [Ilyana] One thing I definitely
learned from Claudia -
0:47 - 0:50is to approach economic
research like a detective. -
0:50 - 0:53I think, especially, when working
in economic history, -
0:53 - 0:56when you can't just download
a cleaned-up dataset, -
0:56 - 1:00you really have to go searching,
open dusty boxes -
1:00 - 1:01and look under rocks.
-
1:04 - 1:07- [Lawrence] She is the consummate
economic historian. -
1:07 - 1:10She has been
the innovator and pioneer -
1:10 - 1:13on bringing economic logic,
and historical and better data, -
1:13 - 1:17to understanding
women's role in the economy. -
1:17 - 1:20And then she is a fantastic
labor economist, -
1:20 - 1:23who had been a leader in work
on understanding inequality. -
1:27 - 1:30- [Narrator] Claudia Dale Goldin
was born in 1946 in the Bronx. -
1:31 - 1:34She was a problem-solver
from the beginning. -
1:35 - 1:37As a child, she avoided
the New York City heat -
1:37 - 1:40by spending her summer days
playing cards or reading -
1:40 - 1:42in air-conditioned
department stores. -
1:43 - 1:44And while she always knew
-
1:44 - 1:47she wanted to be
a scientist of some kind, -
1:47 - 1:49she wasn't always set on economics.
-
1:51 - 1:52- [Dev] She'll tell stories to me
-
1:52 - 1:55about when she first went
to the Natural History Museum, -
1:55 - 1:56when she was living in the Bronx,
-
1:56 - 1:58and fell in love with mummies
-
1:59 - 2:02and thought that archeology
was going to be her passion. -
2:03 - 2:05But then she discovered
microbiology, -
2:05 - 2:07and she suddenly realized
that microscopes uncovered -
2:07 - 2:10a whole new world
of discovery for her. -
2:10 - 2:14It wasn't until she actually went
to college at Cornell -
2:14 - 2:16that she first got introduced
to economics. -
2:17 - 2:19- [Claudia] I decided
to become an economist -
2:19 - 2:22because I took an economics class
-
2:22 - 2:25from an amazing person
named Fred Kahn. -
2:25 - 2:31He was so excited about the field
of industrial organization -
2:31 - 2:33and product markets and regulation
-
2:33 - 2:36that it was infectious.
-
2:36 - 2:39And in fact, when I went
to graduate school -
2:39 - 2:40at the University of Chicago,
-
2:40 - 2:44I went there to study
Industrial Organization. -
2:46 - 2:48- [Narrator] Under
the mentorship of Bob Fogel, -
2:48 - 2:51Claudia studied
American Economic History, -
2:51 - 2:56particularly the economics of slavery
and the post-Civil War South. -
2:56 - 2:58She had to travel
to some southern states -
2:58 - 3:01to gather archival materials
for this research. -
3:01 - 3:04Goldin didn't approach this trip
like a traditional economist. -
3:05 - 3:07- [Lawrence] She thought
what I should do -
3:07 - 3:10is hitchhike between
the different cities in the South. -
3:10 - 3:12She met some woman
from one of the archives -
3:12 - 3:14who let her stay at their place,
-
3:14 - 3:15and when she came back,
-
3:15 - 3:18her advisor asked her for a list
of the receipts and expenses -
3:18 - 3:20associated with the trip,
-
3:20 - 3:21and she had no clue
-
3:21 - 3:24that you were supposed
to actually stay in hotels -
3:24 - 3:26and pay for actual travel
-
3:26 - 3:28and that you could
get reimbursed for this. -
3:28 - 3:31But in fact, by actually staying
with the archivist -
3:31 - 3:34and getting access
to archives and knowledge -
3:34 - 3:35that you wouldn't have had,
-
3:35 - 3:38it probably created inroads
and understanding -
3:38 - 3:39that wouldn't have been possible
-
3:39 - 3:41if you were going through
usual channels. -
3:42 - 3:45- [Narrator] She continued
to focus on economic history, -
3:45 - 3:47exploring such questions
-
3:47 - 3:51as why the North and South
had such different economic outcomes -
3:51 - 3:52after the Civil War.
-
3:53 - 3:57- [Claudia] Then I remember thinking
that there were interesting aspects -
3:57 - 4:01in terms of child labor
and families. -
4:01 - 4:06It suddenly occurred to me,
the main changes in the labor force -
4:06 - 4:08had to do with women.
-
4:10 - 4:11- [Narrator] She realized
-
4:11 - 4:13that there was
a huge story in U.S. history -
4:13 - 4:15that was missing
from economist scrutiny, -
4:15 - 4:20and that was the great evolution
of women's labor force participation. -
4:21 - 4:23- [Claudia] The women
who were working -- -
4:23 - 4:26from much of the history
that I was looking at -- -
4:26 - 4:28were young single women.
-
4:28 - 4:31But then it morphed
into studying how it was -
4:31 - 4:37that older married women
with families joined the workforce. -
4:37 - 4:40- [Narrator] Goldin combined
deep archival research, -
4:40 - 4:42history, and economics
-
4:42 - 4:44to conduct study after study,
-
4:44 - 4:46examining how various dimensions
-
4:46 - 4:49of women's participation
in the U.S. labor force -
4:49 - 4:51evolved over 200 years.
-
4:52 - 4:55- [Ilyana] Claudia's best known
for her contributions -
4:55 - 4:56to the economics of gender.
-
4:56 - 4:58She sort of pioneers that area.
-
4:59 - 5:02- [Lawrence] She has been thinking
about things no one had known -- -
5:02 - 5:05like why is it that women's jobs
-
5:05 - 5:08were much more likely
to be paid piece rate -
5:08 - 5:10than men's jobs?
-
5:10 - 5:13Why is money taken away
and given to their parents? -
5:13 - 5:16The important role
for caring for the family -
5:16 - 5:18and how that affects
the labor market. -
5:18 - 5:23She just has a determination
to figure out what's true, -
5:23 - 5:27to find the new data,
to read the historical sources, -
5:27 - 5:30to think about what
the actual people making decisions -- -
5:30 - 5:33one of the huge advantages
we have as economists, -
5:33 - 5:36we can actually read the diaries
-
5:36 - 5:38of actual people
making these decisions -
5:38 - 5:39and talk to them and interview them
-
5:39 - 5:41when we're doing
contemporaneous work -
5:41 - 5:43or read their inner thoughts.
-
5:45 - 5:48- [Narrator] As just one example,
Goldin's exhaustive research -
5:48 - 5:51has led her
to identify four phases, -
5:51 - 5:53going back to the late 19th century,
-
5:53 - 5:56that shaped women's role
in the U.S. economy. -
5:56 - 5:58The first three phases
were evolutionary. -
5:59 - 6:02While important advances were made
through the evolutionary phases, -
6:02 - 6:04women also had limited control
-
6:04 - 6:07over key decisions
affecting their employment. -
6:07 - 6:09Women in those periods
-
6:09 - 6:12were more likely to view
their working lives as intermittent -
6:12 - 6:14and a means to put food
on the table. -
6:15 - 6:19Then came the quiet revolution,
starting in the late 1970s. -
6:19 - 6:23Women of the quiet revolution
generally viewed their careers -
6:23 - 6:26as a significant part
of their personal identity -
6:26 - 6:28and made their own decisions
about their working lives. -
6:28 - 6:31Goldin found that this latest phase
-
6:31 - 6:34was triggered mainly by
increased investments in education -
6:34 - 6:37and increased availability
of contraceptives. -
6:39 - 6:41- [Edward] More than
any other person, -
6:41 - 6:46she has been central in the study
of women and work in economics. -
6:46 - 6:48She gave it a broad
historical sweep. -
6:48 - 6:50She tied it to economic theory
in a tight way. -
6:50 - 6:55Anyone who works on the issue
of women and work going forward -
6:55 - 6:59will be citing Claudia Goldin
and will be influenced by her. -
6:59 - 7:01- [Narrator] Working together
with Larry Katz, -
7:01 - 7:05she's also done critical research
about education, technology, -
7:05 - 7:08and the extreme dangers
of income inequality. -
7:08 - 7:10- She's among
the first to document -
7:10 - 7:14what we now think of
as a U shape of inequality -
7:14 - 7:16over the 20th century.
-
7:16 - 7:19To this day, economists
are still trying to figure out -
7:19 - 7:21the determinants of that U shape.
-
7:21 - 7:24- [Narrator] As the first woman
to be offered tenure -
7:24 - 7:26in the Harvard Economics Department,
-
7:26 - 7:27she also takes her role
-
7:27 - 7:30of mentoring the next generation
of economists seriously. -
7:30 - 7:32- [Dev] As any graduate
student will tell you, -
7:32 - 7:35advisors play a critical role.
-
7:35 - 7:36It's these personal touches
-
7:36 - 7:39that make Claudia Goldin
such a wonderful advisor -- -
7:39 - 7:43whether it's walking
her dog, Pika, with her, -
7:44 - 7:47receiving midnight texts from her
that always make me laugh. -
7:47 - 7:50- She's not always serious --
which is, of course, very important -
7:50 - 7:52because if someone's
constantly serious, -
7:52 - 7:55it's just so intimidating
as a student. -
7:56 - 7:58- [Narrator] In 2014,
Goldin started -
7:58 - 8:01the Undergraduate Women
in Economics Program -- -
8:01 - 8:05a broad initiative to encourage
more female economics majors. -
8:05 - 8:07- When I'm doing my best research,
-
8:07 - 8:10I am reminded of
what I learned from Claudia, -
8:10 - 8:12and how research can be fun,
-
8:12 - 8:15how it's a mystery
that you want to unravel. -
8:16 - 8:18- [Edward] She brings a joy
to her research. -
8:18 - 8:20We were famously called
the "dismal science." -
8:20 - 8:22Well, certainly when
Claudia Goldin does economics, -
8:22 - 8:24it's anything but dismal.
-
8:25 - 8:27- [Narrator] Want to better
understand Goldin -
8:27 - 8:30and her contributions
to labor economics? -
8:30 - 8:33Click here for related materials
and practice questions. -
8:33 - 8:34Or, check out other videos
-
8:34 - 8:37on how economists
are tackling all sorts of issues, -
8:37 - 8:39ranging from weighty topics,
-
8:39 - 8:41such as the Great Recession
and public health, -
8:41 - 8:43to everyday topics, like wine --
-
8:43 - 8:44yes, even wine!
- Title:
- Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics
- Description:
-
This episode of Women in Economics profiles Claudia Goldin, pioneering economic historian, labor economist, and first female economist to be offered tenure at Harvard.
She was drawn to the sciences at a young age but switched to focusing on economics after taking an economics class with Alfred Kahn at Cornell as an undergrad.
Her most well-known research covers the evolution of women’s labor force participation, but her expertise is by no means confined to this topic. She’s also researched extensively on the economics of education, inequality, and automation.
Learn more about Claudia Goldin: https://mru.io/quf
More Women in Econ: https://mru.io/jwn
***INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES***
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- Team:
- Marginal Revolution University
- Project:
- Women In Economics
- Duration:
- 08:47
Kirstin Cosper edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Kirstin Cosper edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Claudia Goldin | Women in Economics |