At the annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associates in Philadelphia, the University of Michigan’s Martha J. Bailey, co-editor of the 2013 Russell Sage Foundation book Legacies of the War on Poverty, received the 2013 IZA Young Labor Economist Award for her paper “The Opt In Revolution,” co-authored with Brad Hershbein (Upjohn Institute) and Amalia Miller (University of Virginia). The paper examines the role of the birth control pill in increasing women’s human capital investments and, ultimately, wages. It concludes the Pill can account for 10 percent of the convergence of the gender wage gap in the 1980s and 30 percent in the 1990s.

The IZA Young Labor Economist Award, awarded annually since 2002, recognizes one outstanding paper each year in labor economics by an author or authors younger than 40 years of age. The recipients are awarded €5,000 between them for their research.

As co-editor of Legacies of the War on Poverty, Bailey has recently focused her research on evaluating the shorter and longer-term consequences of Great Society programs. This Wednesday, January 8, 2014 Bailey will participate in a panel event marking the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty with Sheldon Danziger, co-editor of Legacies of the War on Poverty and president of the Russell Sage Foundation. Journalists Jason DeParle of the New York Times and Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, along with Jocelyn Frye of the Center for American Progress and Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute will also offer remarks during the discussion, with Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune acting as moderator. For more information and to access the event livestream, click here.