A recent article in the Guardian about the U.K.’s economy, titled “Austerity effect hits women twice as hard as it does men”, explained that austerity measures there have disproportionately affected women. After reading that piece, when I came across Katrine Marcal’s book it presented itself as a required read. Did you know that today almost 60% of American women are in the workforce but they still hold less than 15% of top jobs and 62% of minimum-wage jobs? Marcal introduces these startling statistics in the preface, and immediately in chapter one starts challenging the father of modern economics, Adam Smith, and his “economic man”, the idea that our actions are motivated by self-interest. She criticizes his exclusion of unpaid and caregiving work from economic modeling, an oversight that persists even today. This fast-paced and entertaining book illustrates how economic models work using examples from Russia, China, the U.S., and even Dubai; she even uses comparisons with Robinson Crusoe, Goethe’s Faustus and David Bowie to teach us about economics. Oh, and spoiler alert… it was his mother.
