Nobel Prizes in Economics 2021, On Revolutionizing Empirical Research

David Card shared his Nobel prize on economics with Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens jointly.

On 11th Oct, The Nobel Prize Organization press released, announcing the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ decision on the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2021. 

The economics Nobel prize was decided to be awarded one half to David Card “for his empirical contributions to labor economics” and the other half jointly to Joshua D. Angrist and Guido W. Imbens “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of casual relationships.” 

The Nobel prize organization praised David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens for their valuable new understandings of the labor market and showing what findings on cause and effect could be drawn through natural experiments.

Their techniques have revolutionized pragmatic research in other fields.  

The prize amount of Ten Million Swedish Kronor will be distributed to David Card half and Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens the other half, jointly.  

The Labour Economics. 

David Card was born in 1956 (65 years old) in Guelph, Canada. He was associated with the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, at the time of the award.

David Card is in the field of Labor economics. He completed his BA in Queen’s University at Kingston and then MA and Ph.D. at Princeton University. The son of dairy farmers has been awarded several prizes- 

• John Bates Clark Medal, 1995. 
• Frisch Medal, 2008. 
• BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, 2014. 
• Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 2021. 

The Nobel Prize holder has published several books- 

• Distribution of Income and Wealth in Ontario (1981) 
• Myths and Measurement (1995) 
• Practical Software Measurement (2002) 
• Active Labor Market Policies in Europe (2007) 
• School Choices and the Benefits of Competition (2008) 
• US-Euro Area Monetary Policy Interdependence (2009) 
• Active Labor Market Policy Evaluations (2009) 
• Wages, School Quality, and Employment Demand (2011). 

David Card’s theories have made us realize that residents or natives of a country can benefit from immigration, While people who immigrated in earlier times risk being negatively affected.

He also made us realize how the resources in schools play an essential role in the student’s future labor market success.  

On the argument against immigration, Card had once said, “I honestly think the economic arguments are second order.

They are almost irrelevant”, emphasizing he believes that it is not a threat to the labor market as we always perceive on the matter and worry. 

The Analysis of Causal Relationships. 

Joshua D. Angrist was Born in 1960 (61 age) in Columbus, Ohio. He was associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the time of the award.

Joshua is in the fields of Econometrics and Labor Economics. He has done his BA from Oberlin College and then MA and Ph.D. from Princeton University. The Israeli American Economist has published several books- 

• Education Matters (2000) 
• Mostly Harmless Econometrics (2008) 
• Mastering Metrics (2014) 

Guido W. Imbens was born in 1963 (58 years old) in Geldrop, the Netherlands. He was associated with Stanford University at the time of the award.

Guido W. Imbens is in the field of Econometrics. He has completed his BA from Erasmus University, MSc from the University of Hull, MA, and Ph.D. from Brown University.  

The Dutch American economist has published several books on Econometrics, and Causal Inference is one of his famous and educational books.  

In the mid-1990s, Guido Imbens and Joshua D. Angrist solved the methodological problem of cause and effect of an extra year in school for a group of students, demonstrating how accurate the conclusions can be drawn through natural experiments.  

Peter Fredriksson, chair of the Economic Science Prize Committee, has said how Card’s studies of core questions for society and Angrist and Imbens’ mythological contributions have shown the importance of the natural experiments that are such a rich source of knowledge.

He also praised how their research has substantially enhanced the ability to answer the vital causal questions, which has been remarkable to society, on their win.