David Card headshot

Research Bio

David Card conducts empirical research on a wide range of topics, including immigration, unemployment, gender and race differences, and inequality. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Econometric Society and the Society of Labor Economics, and a previous recipient of the John Bates Clark Prize, the Frisch Medal, the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, and the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award.

Research Expertise and Interest

education, immigration, unemployment, inequality, race and gender, program evaluation

In the News

UC Berkeley’s David Card wins 2021 Nobel Prize in economics

David Card, a labor economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, has won the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for work that challenged orthodoxy and dramatically shifted understanding of inequality and the social and economic forces that impact low-wage workers.

A $15 minimum wage would cost jobs, right? Probably not, economists say

Extensive research led by UC Berkeley economists and alumni has found that significant increases in the minimum wage have little, if any, impact on employers’ hiring decisions. In fact, the researchers say, a higher minimum wage can produce benefits not just for workers, but for their employers, their communities and the entire economy.

David Card: Debunking myths about the value of education

In an era of financial insecurity and cultural tension, a dystopian vision of university education has gained traction in the United States: The cost of public higher education is too high, critics say, and when student debt and job insecurity are factored in, the benefits are too few. But for UC Berkeley economist David Card, that critique ignores a mass of positive data. While profound challenges confront American higher education, he says, universities still bring enormous economic benefits to individual students and to the nation.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
May 27, 2025

What makes manufacturing jobs special? The answer could help rebuild the middle class

NPR: Planet Money
Greg Rosalsky

Asking whether manufacturing is special for workers, this Planet Money episode interviews David Card, an economics professor and Nobel laureate, and Jesse Rothstein, professor of public policy and economics, and mentions research by Economics Professor Enrico Moretti.

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December 7, 2021

Nobel Laureate David Card Believes Scholars Need a Global Perspective

Al-Fanar Media
Tarek Abd El-Galil, Gilgamesh Nabeel
In an interview with Al-Fanar Media, David Card, a co-winner of this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences talked about his research and its implications for the Arab world. He also shared with young scholars his ideas on the importance of having a global perspective. Card, a Canadian-American labor economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, won the prize along with Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens.
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October 14, 2021

How this year's Nobel Prize-winning economists shaped the field

The Christian Science Monitor
Christopher Rugaber, David McHugh and David Keyton 
A U.S.-based economist won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for pioneering research that transformed widely held ideas about the labor force, showing how an increase in the minimum wage doesn't hinder hiring and immigrants don't lower pay for native-born workers. Two others shared the award for developing ways to study these types of societal issues. Canadian-born David Card of the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded half of the prize for his research on how the minimum wage, immigration, and education affect the labor market. In a study published in 1993, Dr. Card looked at what happened to jobs at Burger King, KFC, Wendy's, and Roy Rogers when New Jersey raised its minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.05, using restaurants in bordering eastern Pennsylvania as the control – or comparison – group. Contrary to previous studies, he and his late research partner Alan Krueger found that an increase in the minimum wage had no effect on the number of employees. More on this story, please see our Nobel package at Berkeley News.
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