Claudia Goldin, an American economic historian, has been honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for her significant contributions to advancing our understanding of women's labor market outcomes, as announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Monday.

This prestigious award, officially named the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final accolade among this year's Nobel prizes and carries a monetary value of 11 million Swedish crowns ($999,137). The Academy stated, "This year's Laureate in the Economic Sciences, Claudia Goldin, offered the first comprehensive analysis of women's earnings and their participation in the labor market over the centuries. Her research not only uncovers the reasons behind changing trends but also identifies the primary factors contributing to the persistent gender gap."

Goldin becomes only the third woman in history to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics. This award, unlike the original Nobel prizes for science, literature, and peace established by Alfred Nobel's will, is a later addition initiated and funded by Sweden's central bank in 1968. It was first presented the following year, with previous laureates including influential thinkers and academics such as Friedrich August von Hayek, Milton Friedman, and more recently, US economist Paul Krugman.

In the previous year, a trio of US economists, including former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, received the prize for their research on how regulating banks and providing public funding to struggling financial institutions can prevent more severe economic crises, akin to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

As with the other Nobel prizes, the overwhelming majority of recipients of the economics award have been men, with only two women having previously achieved this distinction - Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo a decade later