11 October 2021. Canadian-born David Card receives one half of the prestigious prize for his empirical contributions to labor economics. Ohio-born Joshua Angrist and Dutch-American Guido Imbens share the other half for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships.

Honorary doctorates in economics

In 2007, the HSG awarded Professor Joshua Angrist with an honorary doctorate in economics for his outstanding research on the foundations of econometrics and his pioneering empirical analyses of economic policy issues. The HSG also awarded an honorary doctorate of economics in 2014 to Professor Guido Imbens, for his contributions to research on the econometric foundations of evidence-based economic policy advice. Both honorary doctorates were awarded at the request of the School of Economics and Political Science (SEPS-HSG).

"Revolutionising empirical research"

All three researchers "have given us new insights into the labor market and shown what conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in explaining its decision to award the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics. "Their approach has spread to other fields and revolutionised empirical research."

Photo: David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens; © Nobel Prize Outreach 2021 Ill. Niklas Elmehed