Advanced Introduction to Feminist Economics

Elgar Advanced Introductions series

Joyce P. Jacobsen, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, US

Many questions arise of an economic nature that are only partially addressed by standard economic analysis. These lacunae give rise to particular lines of critique in economics, including a wide-ranging and increasingly cogent feminist approach to reenvisioning economics. This book provides a comprehensive description of this intriguing new area of feminist economics. It includes discussion of what constitutes feminist economics and how feminist economics is different from other approaches. The intellectual origins of the area are explicated, and the current state of the subfield outlined. Specific topics covered include conflict over terminology, pedagogy, and content in the field of economics, measurement of the unmeasured economy, the role of caring labor in the economy, heteronormativity in economics, feminist approaches to economic development, multiple approaches to empiricism, modeling of intrahousehold relationships, consideration of the role of property rights in reifying gender roles, differential effects of international trade and finance by gender, and feminist approaches to public finance and social welfare.

‘With this interesting and highly relevant book, Joyce Jacobsen has provided a masterful account of the issues, debates, and ideas that feminist economists have written about for decades. Jacobsen has both the research record and the career trajectory to write as a leading expert on the intersections between economics and feminism. This is no ordinary textbook; rather it is an informed and carefully-crafted digest that fills a gaping hole in the literature and will enlighten students and educators alike.’
– Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, US