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Release: March 21, 1995
Contact: Tom Krattenmaker (609/258-5748)


Princeton Economist David Card
Wins Prestigious John Bates Clark Prize

PRINCETON, N.J. -- David Card, a Princeton University economist
known for his research on such socially relevant topics as the
minimum wage and the economic benefits of education, has been
named winner of the John Bates Clark Prize.

The prize -- one of the highest honors in economics -- is awarded
every other year by the American Economics Association for the
best work by an economist under age 40.

Card is a leading practitioner of the precise, statistics-driven
branch of economics known as "econometrics," which applies
advanced computing and analysis techniques to large amounts of
data in an attempt to better understand economic phenomena.

He and a Princeton colleague, Alan Krueger, have authored several
studies on the effect of raising the minimum wage. Their findings
that a higher minimum pay rate may not lead to less hiring
contradicts the field's conventional wisdom, and it has greatly
influenced the current debate in Washington over the proposed
minimum wage increase.

Also in partnership with Krueger -- who is now on leave serving as
chief economist in the U.S. Labor Department -- Card has helped
establish a direct relationship between a person's level of
schooling and his or her earnings. Yet another study by Card
analyzed the effect of immigration on employment and wages.

"Here's an economist with fabulous technical expertise who has
turned his attention to the collection of new data and the
empirical study of economic issues connected with public policy,"
said Orley Ashenfelter, a Princeton economics professor who heads
the Industrial Relations Section, with which Card is affiliated,
and who is another prominent practitioner of econometrics. "David
Card's research has contributed enormously to the national debate
about these important issues."

Card, a 39-year-old Canadian with permanent resident status in the
United States, received his BA in 1978 from Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario, and his PhD in 1983 from Princeton. A member of
the Princeton faculty since 1983, he has also taught at the
University of Chicago and Columbia University. Last year, he won
the Douglas Purvis Prize for the best article on economics and
public policy in Canada.

In addition to his position at Princeton, Card is a faculty
research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and
co-editor of the journal Econometrica.

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