Monday, May 4, 2009

IZA Prize in Labor Economics

Richard Easterlin of USC is the winner of this year's IZA prize in labor economics.

Labor economists have made a concerted effort to have more prizes in recent years - the Society of Labor Economists is the prime mover here but the IZA prize contributes to the trend as well. This strikes me as a good thing as long as we do not end up with an arms race in prizes between various subfields.

In any case, congratulations to Richard Easterlin!