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Finance and economics
财经版块
Golden Goldin
金牌戈尔丁
A Nobel for an economist who has overturned assumptions about gender equality.
一位颠覆了关于性别平等假设的经济学家获得了诺贝尔奖。
On the morning of October 9th the National Bureau of Economic Research circulated a working paper to economists around the world entitled “Why Women Won”.
10月9日上午，美国国家经济研究局向世界各地的经济学家分发了一份题为《女性为何获胜》的工作论文。
In the paper, Claudia Goldin of Harvard University documents how women achieved equal rights in American workplaces and families.
在这篇论文中，哈佛大学的克劳迪娅·戈尔丁记录了女性如何在美国的工作场所和家庭中实现平等权利。
Rather fittingly, a few hours later, Ms Goldin was announced as the winner of this year’s economics Nobel prize, for advancing “our understanding of women’s labour-market outcomes”.
恰合时宜的是，几个小时后，戈尔丁女士赢得了今年的诺贝尔经济学奖，以表彰她“促进了我们对女性劳动力市场的理解”。
Having been the first woman to be granted tenure at Harvard’s economics department, Ms Goldin is now the third woman to have won the subject’s Nobel prize.
戈尔丁是第一位在哈佛大学经济学系获得终身教职的女性，现在她是第三位获得诺贝尔经济学奖的女性。
Taken together, her research provides a comprehensive history of gender labour-market inequality over the past 200 years.
概括而言，她的研究全面展示了过去200年来劳动力市场性别不平等的历史。
In telling this history, she has overturned assumptions about both historical gender relations and what is required to achieve greater equality in the present day.
在讲述这段历史时，她颠覆了关于历史上的性别关系以及在当今实现更广泛的平等所需条件的假设。
Before Ms Goldin’s work, economists had thought that economic growth led to a more level playing field.
在戈尔丁的研究出现之前，经济学家们曾认为，经济增长会带来更公平的竞争环境。
In fact, Ms Goldin showed, the Industrial Revolution drove married women out of the labour force, as production moved from home to factory.
戈尔丁女士指出，事实上，随着生产从家里转移到工厂，工业革命把已婚妇女赶出了劳动力大军。
In research published in 1990 she demonstrated that it was only in the 20th century, when service-sector jobs proliferated and high-school education developed, that the more familiar pattern emerged.
在1990年发表的一项研究中，她证明，直到20世纪，服务业工作激增，高中教育得到发展，才出现了如今人们更熟悉的模式。
The relationship between the size of Western economies and female-labour-force participation is U-shaped—a classic Goldin result.
西方经济体的规模和女性劳动力参与率之间的关系是U型的，这是一个经典的戈尔丁结论。
Ms Goldin’s research has busted other myths, too.
戈尔丁的研究也打破了其他神话。
Lawrence Katz, her colleague and husband, marvels at her ability to trawl archives to fill gaps in the historical data on women’s work.
劳伦斯·卡茨既是戈尔丁的同事，也是她的丈夫，他惊叹于她从档案中搜集资料，并填补女性工作历史数据中的空白的能力。
Simple statistics, such as the female employment rate, were mismeasured because when surveyed, women might respond “I’m a housewife”, notes Ms Goldin, even if they managed the family business.
戈尔丁指出，女性就业率等简单统计数据并不准确，因为在接受调查时，即使女性在管理着家里的生意，她们也可能会回答“我是个家庭主妇”。
Once corrected, the employment rate for white married women, for example, was 12.5% in 1890—five times greater than previously thought.
例如，经过修正后，1890年白人已婚妇女的就业率为12.5%，比之前认为的高出五倍。
Her findings also showed that the gender wage gap narrowed in bursts.
戈尔丁的发现还显示，男女工资差距经历了几次急剧缩小。
Women’s wages rose relative to men’s in 1820-50 and then again in 1890-1930, before shooting up in 1980-2005.
女性的工资在1820-50年间相对于男性有所上升，然后在1890-1930年间再次上升，接着在1980-2005年间猛增。
What drove these bursts?
是什么导致了这些急剧增长？
The initial two came well before the equal-pay movement and were caused by changes in the labour market: first, during the Industrial Revolution; second, during a surge in white-collar employment for occupations like clerical work.
最初的两次出现在同工同酬运动之前，是由劳动力市场的变化造成的：第一次是在工业革命期间，第二次是在文书等白领职业激增期间。
For the third and most substantial drop, in the late 20th century, Ms Goldin emphasises the role of expectations.
第三次也是最大的一次差距缩小发生在20世纪末，戈尔丁强调了心理预期的作用。
If a young woman has more say over when and whether she will have a child, and more confidence that women can work in a wide range of jobs, she may invest more in the future, such as by staying in school for longer.
如果年轻女性在何时以及是否生孩子方面有更多的发言权，并且对女性可以从事各种工作更有信心，那么她可能会更多地对未来投资，比如在学校待更长时间。
In work published in 2002 Ms Goldin and Mr Katz detailed the example of the contraceptive pill, which was approved in 1960, and gave women more control over decisions about children.
在2002年发表的研究中，戈尔丁和卡茨详细阐述了1960年批准避孕药的例子，避孕药赋予女性更多关于生育的控制权。
