History of the Rosen Prize
On October 1, 2003, the SOLE membership by a vote of 128-15 adopted the following Amendment to the Bylaws:
2. The Sherwin Rosen Prize for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Labor Economics
To be awarded biennially, if a suitable nominee is found. The cited works for which the award is given must have been completed within twelve (12) years of one's first full-time employment after completion of graduate studies. Timing is loosely defined and is to be interpreted by the Nomination Committee. Although there is no specific requirement, in most cases part of the cited works will have appeared in the Society’s journal, the Journal of Labor Economics.
The decision to honor Sherwin Rosen with this award for younger economists was based on his history of mentoring students and younger colleagues.
Alan Krueger made the following remarks about Sherwin Rosen on the occasion of the award of the 2008 prize:
“Sherwin made important contributions to the theory of hedonics and theory of superstars. In a very real sense, his work completed Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall’s agendas in these areas. Eddie Lazear wrote a wondeful piece about Sherwin Rosen for the National Academy of Sciences which noted, ‘His life was devoted to understanding how diverse people, products and technologies could be brought together and allocated appropriately.’ Lazear also pointed out that Rosen failed his core exams at Chicago and Milton Friedman recommended that he go into a profession like accounting. We are fortunate that Sherwin did not follow Milton Friedman's advice. On a personal note, I would add that I always found Sherwin Rosen to be respectful of ideas and methods that he did not agree with.”