Claudia Goldin does not attend many sporting events. It has simply never been a priority for the 79-year-old Harvard economist. But she has made two exceptions in the last year. The first came when the Red Sox invited her to throw out a ceremonial first pitch after she won the Nobel Prize. (“I practiced for weeks,” she says, proudly noting that her work showed in her good aim.) And the second came this past week. Goldin came out to Indianapolis for WNBA All-Star weekend.
This was the first women’s basketball game that she had ever attended. It was just one of a slew of new activities lately for the professor. Goldin is advising the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association in its negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The Nobel laureate has never advised a union before, she has never worked in or around professional sports, and she has never shown up early to a game to buy a jersey. She has now done all of the above.
