Nobel economics prize goes to natural experiments pioneers

Krueger found that an increase in the

The trio reshaped empirical work in the economic minimum wage had no effect on the
number of employees. Card later did
sciences, said the Royal Swedish Academy further work on the issue.
ASSOCIATED PRESS research on how minimum wage, Overall, the research concluded
Stockholm, 11 October immigration and education affect the that the negative effects of increasing
labour market, while the other half the minimum wage are small and
A US-based economist won the Nobel was shared by Joshua Angrist from significantly smaller than believed 30
prize for economics on the Massachusetts years ago, the Nobel committee said.
Monday for pioneering Card’s work has Institute of Technology Card also found that incomes of
research that showed an challenged and Dutch-born those who are native born to a
increase in minimum conventional wisdom Guido Imbens from country can benefit from new
wage does not lead to in labour economics, Stanford University for immigrants, while immigrants who
less hiring and while Angrist and their framework for arrived earlier are the ones at risk of
immigrants do not Imbens showed that studying issues that being negatively affected.
lower pay for native- it was possible to can’t rely on traditional DAVID CARD JOSHUA D ANGRIST GUIDO W IMBENS Angrist and Imbens won their half
born workers, identify a clear effect scientific methods. of the award for working out the
challenging commonly from an intervention The Royal Swedish contributions have shown that great benefit for society.” Card looked methodological issues that allow
held ideas. Two others in people’s behaviour Academy of Sciences natural experiments are a rich source at what happened when New Jersey economists to draw solid conclusions
shared the award for said the three have of knowledge,” said Peter raised its minimum wage from $4.25 about cause and effect even where
creating a way to study “completely reshaped Fredriksson, chair of the Economic to $5.05, using restaurants in they cannot carry out studies
these types of societal issues. empirical work in the economic Sciences Committee. bordering eastern Pennsylvania as a according to strict scientific methods.
Canadian-born David Card of the sciences.” “Card’s studies of core “Their research has substantially comparison group.
University of California, Berkeley, was questions for society and Angrist and improved our ability to answer key Contrary to previous studies, he HOW 2021 SCIENCE NOBEL
awarded one half of the prize for his Imbens’ methodological causal questions, which has been of and his late research partner Alan PRIZES IMPACT OUR WORLD P7