UC Berkeley economics professor David Card won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Oct. 11. This is the second Nobel Prize received by the UC System in 2021.
Earlier this year, UC San Francisco physiology professor David Julius, who is also the Morris Herzstein Chair in molecular biology and medicine, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Card, alongside Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens, created research devices that assist economists in utilizing general circumstances to test common theories, such as examining how education relates to income.
“Using natural experiments, David Card has analyzed the labor market effects of minimum wages, immigration and education. His studies from the early 1990s challenged conventional wisdom, leading to new analyses and additional insights,” a Nobel Prize public press release stated.
The prize is awarded every year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Applicants qualified for the prize in economic sciences are nominated by qualified individuals to whom the Economic Sciences Prize Committee invites to submit names for thought.
Card, along with the two other award recipients, won the award due to their collaboration among natural experiments that aid the response of significant economical inquiries for society.
“Card’s studies of core questions for society and Angrist and Imbens’ methodological contributions have shown that natural experiments are a rich source of knowledge. Their research has substantially improved our ability to answer key causal questions, which has been of great benefit to society,” Economic Sciences Prize Committee Chair Peter Fredriksson said.
Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Prize Outreach Adam Smith spoke with Card the morning of his win. Smith inquired about the concept of Card’s past and present work, where implications of data that are used for public policy lead individuals to act one way as opposed to another.
“Well, you know, I’ll tell you … for instance on the minimum wage I remember [late economist Alan] ‘Al’ Krueger and I did some research jointly and independently of each other in separate papers, and then we wrote a book in the early 1990s, and after that the minimum wage was frozen in place for a very long time,” Card said. “And so we always assumed that our work had completely stopped all progress for the minimum wage.”
Smith spoke with Card in regards to how his work relates to the United States’ current political structure. Highlighting a section of Card’s data work, Smith discussed how immigration has become a national topic of discussion in its relationship to equal job opportunity. Card’s work displays that a direct correlation between the two has shown little to no effect upon the labor market. This motivated him to continue his research in becoming a tell-all in regards to social structures.
“I think, similarly, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure that the kind of research that I’ve done has had much impact on immigration because at the end of the day on the immigration issue … I don’t think … I think people talk about these impacts on native workers but I think that’s really what the big concern is. The big concern is about changing the composition of the country and making it more non-white or more different religion, more, different language, different racial composition,” Card said.
Smith and Card collaboratively concluded that opinions on immigration were deep-rooted and required systemic cultural change.
”We tried to get at what’s the main reason that people are against immigration. Is it because of economics or because of the sort of concerns about cultural issues? And we concluded that it was mostly the cultural issues,” Card said.
Card’s hard work and win has been celebrated across the UC education system. UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. released a statement to all UC students and faculty on Oct. 12, congratulating Card’s win for showcasing UC excellence.
“Dr. Card’s significant contributions to economics have global implications and represent yet another example of the critical research conducted at the University of California. His work is an outstanding example of our commitment to tackling some of the world’s most enduring questions and challenges,” Drake said.
Leda Abkenari is a Campus News Intern for the fall 2021 quarter. She can be reached at labkenar@uci.edu.
