Pinelopi “Penny” Koujianou Goldberg, the William Nordhaus Professor of Economics and Global Affairs at Yale University, has received the 2025 A.SK Social Science Award from the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. The biennial award recognizes social scientists who have made important contributions to the analysis of political and economic reforms.
Dr. Goldberg’s research spans the fields of international trade, development economics, and industrial economics. Her most recent research examines the resurgence of protectionism in the United States, specifically as it relates to the trade war between the U.S. and China and its effect on income distribution. She has also recently studied the role of intellectual property rights and women’s labor market participation in economic growth in developing countries.
A Yale faculty member since 2001, Dr. Goldberg currently holds joint appointments in the department of economics and the Jackson School of Global Affairs. She is also affiliated with the university’s Economic Growth Center. Throughout her long career, she has held several prestigious leadership positions within the broader field of economics. From 2018 to 2020, she was chief economist of the World Bank Group. She has also served as president of the Econometric Society, vice president of the American Economic Association, and editor-in-chief of the American Economic Review.
After graduating from the University of Freiburg in Germany, Dr. Goldberg earned a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.


