Shelly Lundberg Received 2026 Jacob Mincer Award

The UC Santa Barbara professor was honored for lifetime contributions to the field of labor economics.

Updated on Sept. 26, 2026 in Women’s Issues

Bold vector editorial illustration of a metallic bronze economic trend sculpture on a wooden surface, symbolizing labor research. — The Society of Labor Economists honored UC Santa Barbara professor Shelly Lundberg with the 2026 Jacob Mincer Award for her career-long research. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Do you believe gender-aware economic models provide a more accurate understanding of modern household behavior?

In 2026, the Society of Labor Economists presented the Jacob Mincer Award to Shelly Lundberg, a professor at UC Santa Barbara. This honor recognizes her extensive, career-long contributions to labor economics.

Why it matters

Lundberg has been a pivotal voice in evolving economic research, having served as president of the Society of Labor Economists and chair of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women. Her work continues to challenge traditional academic models regarding household dynamics.

Lundberg published her latest book, How Economics Discovered Women, through UC Press in August 2026. This work examines long-standing issues like occupational segregation using crossdisciplinary data.

The players

Shelly Lundberg

She is a professor at UC Santa Barbara who has spent decades studying labor economics and the status of women in the workforce.

Society of Labor Economists

This is a professional academic organization dedicated to the study of labor economics and the promotion of research in the field.

American Economic Association

This is a nonprofit, nonpartisan scholarly organization that publishes economic journals and hosts conferences for professional economists.

The details

Lundberg's recent book critiques the academic reliance on unitary household models while investigating the roots of pay gaps and labor force participation. Her career reflects decades of academic inquiry, beginning with early studies published in the 1980s.

Economic research on women as workers emerged during the 1970s.
Lundberg published a paper in the American Economic Review in 1983.
A study was published by Lundberg in the Journal of Labor Economics in 1985.
Lundberg released her book How Economics Discovered Women in August 2026.
The Jacob Mincer Award was presented to Lundberg in 2026.

Culture Shift

This award marks a maturation in the field of gender economics, signaling a departure from the 1970s era where the economic status of women was often marginalized in research. Lundberg's career illustrates the transition toward integrating household-level analysis into standard labor theory.

Readers in the Santa Barbara area can engage with these findings through the accessibility of scholarly books like How Economics Discovered Women. Her research provides practical frameworks for understanding modern workplace pay gaps.

The takeaway

Lundberg's research reminds us that economic models are most effective when they adapt to reflect the complexities of real-world household dynamics. Applying these insights can help individuals better understand the historical and structural drivers behind current career and wage trends.