The Faculty of Economics brings together inspirational female economists as academic staff, research visitors, and guest lecturers. These leading economists have recently presented an overview of their research in events organised by the Faculty.
Sheilagh Ogilvie - The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis
Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie gave the Faculty Research Seminar, presenting the research in her 2019 Princeton University Press book, where she uses economic methods to analyze an institution central to almost every economy in history – the occupational guild. Her talk was entitled ‘The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis’ and was delivered on 1 October 2018.
Sriya Iyer - The Economics of Religion in India
Dr. Sriya Iyer recently gave the Faculty Research Seminar based on the research in her 2018 Harvard University Press book, where she uses economic methods to study religion. Her talk was titled 'The Economics of Religion in India' and delivered on 23 April 2018.
Caroline Hoxby - Taking Productivity in Education Seriously
Professor Caroline Hoxby delivered this year's Marshall Lecture on the topic of taking productivity in education seriously. Trained as a public finance and labor economist, Hoxby is one of the world's leading scholars in the Economics of Education. Her pioneering work in the field was transformative because she saw that applying economic thinking to education generates many important insights. Her work often draws upon models of investment, incentives, market design, finance, optimal pricing, social insurance, and behavioural economics.
Meredith Crowley - Markets and Markups
Dr. Meredith Crowley gave the Faculty Research Seminar based on the research in her 2018 research where she examines firms that export goods to more than one destination and which account for the lion's share of cross-border trade. Her talk was entitled “Markets and Markups: A New Empirical Framework and Evidence on Exporter from China” and was delivered on 16 January 2018.
Mary Paley – An Economist and the first Marshall Librarian
Mary Paley, the wife of Alfred Marshall, was an economist and scholar in her own right. In 1871 she was one of the first five women to be admitted at Newnham College. She was also one of the first women allowed to take the men’s tripos. Although she passed she was not allowed to graduate. She also taught economics here at Cambridge and later, at Bristol University. She published The Economics of Industry in I879, jointly with Alfred Marshall. She was not cited as a joint author for Marshall’s Principles of Economics in 1890. However, we know from proof copies, that she was heavily involved in the proofing and editing of this work. The Library has named the group study room after her.
Here is a blog post about the launch of the Mary Paley Room:
http://marshlib.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Mary%20Paley
Joan Robinson – A post-Keynesian economist
The Marshall Library has recently curated an exhibition about the economist Joan Robinson who was ‘arguably the only woman born before 1930 who can be considered a great economist.’ Her first major book was The Economics of Imperfect Competition, in which she laid out a model of competition between firms, each of which had some monopoly power. She taught at Cambridge from 1928 – 1971. It seems her gender may have held her back. Surprisingly she was not awarded a Nobel prize in 1975 as expected and she did not become a full professor until 1965. However, she was also a provocateur who held increasingly left-wing views, which may also have had a bearing on her career.
Here is a blog post by Clare Trowell about Joan Robinson: https://bit.ly/2EUZpgG
