Pioneering Professor Took Risks

Francine Blau, among the first economists to research gender pay inequities, retires from ILR as an internationally acclaimed authority.

What motivated you to study labor economics?

I had a strong interest and concern about inequality and poverty in society and wanted to tackle the topic through the economics discipline. Wages and salaries constitute the major source of income for the vast majority of people, so labor economics seemed the way to go. Of course, coming from the ILR School, I was primed to study labor economics.

What led to you becoming a professor?

As an undergrad at ILR, I really looked up to my professors. Joining their ranks –

that is becoming a professor – seemed like one of the highest things I could aspire to. Of course, I never imagined at the time that I might someday get the opportunity to return and teach ILR students. So wonderful it turned out that way.

What was it like to win the IZA award?

It is not the kind of award where you know you’re up for it, either formally or informally – at least I didn’t. And, honestly, I was completely gobsmacked! It had never crossed my mind that it was a possibility. As I recall, the notification actually came in an email, and I had to read it over a few times to make sure I was understanding it correctly. I was, of course, deeply honored and gratified by the recognition. I was also glad to see my major area of study – the economics of gender – recognized. When I started out in the economics profession, there wasn’t much interest in gender issues. Being a woman, working on gender was considered a risky decision. I am so glad it paid off both for me personally but also for the area. The study of women and gender issues is now completely within the mainstream of economics. Of course, this is thanks to the excellent, hard work of many scholars, as well as the growing social concern about the status of women. And, while women are still underrepresented in economics, they are better represented than they used to be, and many do want to study gender.

What do you consider your most impactful research, and why?

I think the most impactful research I’ve done is a series of papers with Larry (Kahn) illuminating the relationship between a country’s wage-setting institutions, like unions and minimum wages, and the size of the gender wage gap. Larry and I showed that in countries where unions play a more important role in setting wages, the gender wage gap tends to be smaller. This is because unions tend to bring up the bottom of the wage distribution and, in all countries, women tend to be at the bottom of the distribution. This means that women disproportionately benefit from union wage setting or, more broadly, any policies that reduce wage inequality. I’d also mention my textbook with Anne Winkler (and originally with the late Marianne Ferber) on the Economics of Women, Men, and Work (Oxford). It is currently in its 9th edition. It was the first textbook in the area and in addition to helping to promote more courses on gender, it is also widely used as a resource. It is actually my most cited piece of work.

Is there a piece of research that maybe didn’t get the same notoriety but was particularly meaningful to you, or that you thought was really interesting, or maybe surprised you?

Probably my book, Equal Pay in the Office, based on my doctoral dissertation at Harvard. In it, I showed that there was a pay gap between men and women, even in the same narrowly defined occupation. The key was that men and women tended to be segregated by firm, with men employed at firms that paid higher wages to all workers, regardless of sex, and women tending to work at low-wage firms. At the time I did this work, it was rare to highlight the role of firms in this way – most of the focus was on worker characteristics, especially education and experience, as determinants of pay. Now, there is much more interest in the impact of firms, and the gender patterns I documented are still prevalent.

What was it like to work side-by-side with your husband, Larry Kahn? How did you navigate your professional relationship while raising a family?

It may not work for everyone, but it was great for Larry and me. We fit well professionally, with many interests in common. We love to work together, and I think we both feel that we have done our best work together. I don’t want to make us sound like uber-nerds, but since we love economics and love working together, we get some additional time to work on stuff at home. On the family side, we both were totally into our kids and shared all the work involved 50-50. This, unfortunately, is not the norm in most families, even today. Our egalitarian division of labor was a big factor for me in the professional successes I was able to achieve.

How did your time at ILR as a student shape or change you?

Being a student at ILR profoundly impacted me and set me on my career trajectory. I had only the slightest acquaintance with social sciences in high school. At ILR, I learned that social sciences – particularly economics – were a great match for my interests, as was the focus on the workplace. I had charismatic professors who inspired and encouraged me to go on in economics at a time when it was an overwhelmingly male field. (Women received only 7% of economics PhDs.) And the commitment to social justice that characterized ILR also resonated with me and helped to shape my life-long focus on issues like inequality and gender.

What were some of your favorite moments at ILR?

I have had the opportunity to teach a course on Women in the Economy virtually every year since I have been at ILR. This is important to me both as it relates to my major area of academic study and also because I care deeply about the issues. More than once at the end of the semester students have shared with me the influence the course has had on them, telling me that the course really altered how they looked at the status of women in society or how they felt the course gave them the tools to navigate the labor market. I couldn’t ask for more.

What’s on your retirement “things to do” list?

I don’t expect my life to change radically right away. I plan on remaining professionally active, so I will be continuing my research and attending conferences, and I will be continuing working with my grad student advisees until they complete their dissertations. But I do expect to have more time. I am excited to see my grandchildren more often and to do more travel.

Is there something in particular about ILR that you will miss?

The ILR School is a community and that community has been very important in my life. I would miss it very much. But I don’t expect to stop cold turkey. I plan to remain professionally active and come into the office to schmooze with my colleagues from time to time.

As you head into retirement, what are some of your thoughts about the career you’ve had, and the legacy you’re leaving at both ILR and in your field?

That’s for others to say. But I hope that both at ILR and in my field I have contributed to the salience of gender issues and an understanding of how important they are.