Mannheim Economist Michèle Tertilt Honored with 2024 Birgit Grodal Prize
Prof. Michèle Tertilt, Ph.D., is recognized as a pioneer in the field of family macroeconomics, a field of research that studies the effects of economic interactions within family households. Her research focuses on how fertility, domestic production, and the division of labor are influenced by economic incentives, markets, and institutions. Tertilt’s research has contributed to a better understanding of how family issues such as marriage, offspring, and women’s rights affect national economic growth and the business cycle. She has also made fundamental contributions to the fields of development economics and household finance.
“Michèle Tertilt is a leading macroeconomist who has shaped how economists think about the family and macroeconomics. She has also rendered outstanding services to the profession, including in her role as co-editor of the Review of Economic Studies and as supervisor of a long list of doctoral students,” said the jury.
Three of Tertilt’s papers illustrate her novel application of economic theory to the macroeconomics of the family. In the paperIn her project Polygyny, Fertility and Savings , for example, she examines the economic impact of polygamy in sub-Saharan Africa.
In her paper Women’s Liberation: What’s in It for Men?, Tertilt and her co-author Prof. Matthias Doepke analyze the interactions between economic growth and women’s empowerment. And in the publication An Equilibrium Model of the African HIV/