Economy: Publication by Sara Signorelli and Roland Rathelot in Polytechnique Insights

The work of the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023 analyzes wage inequalities and traces the evolution of women's place in the labor market over time. The Polytechnique Insights magazine has published a special report entitled “Nobel Prizes: what are the applications of the work of the latest laureates?". Read Sirine Azouaoui's article “Nobel Prize in economics: understanding gender inequalities in employment”, with Sara Signorelli, assistant professor at CREST at École polytechnique, and Roland Rathelot, teacher-researcher at ENSAE-CREST.

Click here to read the publication on Polytechnique Insights, Institut Polytechnique de Paris's online magazine for all you need to know about the issues of our time. Here are a few extracts from the ideas developed below:

• The American economist Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2023 for her work on the place of women in the labour market with her analyses of wage inequality.
• She has shown that women’s participation in the economy has followed a U-shaped trajectory, influenced by major societal changes such as the contraceptive pill.
• Her working method is particularly innovative, drawing on historical data, analysing the long term and formulating multiple hypotheses.
• Claudia Goldin describes a “silent revolution” in the early 1970s, launched in particular by contraception, which enabled American women to plan and build their professional careers.
• Despite this progress, the economist notes that pay inequalities persist, notably because of “greedy jobs” and flexible working.