19 Facts About Barbara Bergmann

Barbara Bergmann's work covers many topics from childcare and gender issues to poverty and Social Security.

Barbara Bergmann was born in 1927 to a Romanian-born mother and Polish-born father in the Bronx.

Barbara Bergmann's parents worked instead of finishing school, but they expected Barbara to adhere to the standards and traditions of American life and eventually go to college.

Barbara Bergmann received a scholarship to Cornell University and majored in mathematics.

Barbara Bergmann took a job with the federal government in the New York Office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics where she fielded public inquiries; she was head of the inquiries unit after a year.

Harvey Purdy was the only black employee at the New York office and, when Barbara Bergmann managed to get him promoted, he was demoted shortly after and the job was given to someone else.

Research and experience has led Barbara Bergmann to develop theories and ideas about government policy, the implementation of observation into economics, and racial and gender equality.

Barbara Bergmann served as an advisor to the Congressional Budget Office and the Bureau of the Census.

Barbara Bergmann was involved in numerous national and international organizations that promote advancement and equality.

Barbara Bergmann served as chair of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in Economic Professions, and president of the Eastern Economic Association, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, the American Association of University Professors, and the International Association for Feminist Economics.

Barbara Bergmann received the 2004 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award for increasing the status of women in economics and creating an understanding of how women can advance in the academic field.

Barbara Bergmann is known for development of the "occupational crowding" hypothesis which holds that employer discrimination leads to the crowding of black men into low-wage occupations and out of high-wage occupations.

Barbara Bergmann studied microsimulation at Harvard University with computer generated simulation that provided a model with equations of macrovariables constructed on analogies of microeconomics.

Barbara Bergmann holds that observation and empirical evidence can lead to theories that actually reflect human behavior instead of producing theories on paper that do not always work in reality.

Barbara Bergmann argues that macroeconomics can fix many social problems and economic policy can be used to enhance the lives of individuals, but economists are too persuaded by political affiliation to work toward a common goal.

Barbara Bergmann died by suicide at her home in Bethesda, Maryland on 5 April 2015.

Barbara Bergmann is survived by her son, David Martin Bergmann, and her daughter, Sarah Nellie Bergmann, as well as three grandchildren.

Barbara Bergmann's husband, Fred H Bergmann, a microbiologist at the National Institutes of Health, whom she married in 1965, died in 2011.

The International Association for Feminist Economics reported via social media that they were "saddened to learn of the recent death of Barbara Bergmann" and urged people to honor her memory by donating to the Barbara Bergmann Fellowship Fund.