Katrine Marçal

How do you get your dinner? That is the basic question of economics. It might seem easy, but it is actually very complicated. When Adam Smith proclaimed that all our actions were motivated by self-interest and the world turned because of financial gain he laid the foundations for 'economic man'. Selfish and cynical, 'economic man' has dominated our thinking ever since, the ugly rational heart of modern day capitalism. But every night Adam Smith's mother served him his dinner, not out of self-interest, but out of love. Even today, the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning and cooking is not part of our economic models. All over the world, there are economists who believe that if women are paid less, then that's because their labour is worth less. In this engaging, popular look at the mess we're in, Katrine Marçal charts the myth of 'economic man', from its origins at Adam Smith's dinner table to its adaptation by the Chicago School and finally its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

A Story about Women and Economics

Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?

An illuminating and maddening examination of how gender bias has skews innovation, technology, history, and work by Swedish journalist Katrine Marçal It all starts with a rolling suitcase. The wheel was invented some 5,000 years ago, and the modern suitcase in the mid-nineteenth century, but it wasn't until the 1970s that someone successfully married the two. What was the hold up? For writer and journalist Katrine Marçal, the answer is both shocking and simple: because "real men" carried their bags, no matter how heavy. There were rolling suitcases before the '70s, but they were marketed as a niche product for (the presumably few) women traveling alone, and the wheeled suitcase wasn't "invented" until it was no longer threatening to masculinity. Mother of Invention draws on this example and many others, from electric cars to tech billionaires, to show how gender bias stifles the economy and holds us back. Our traditional notions about men and women have delayed innovations, sometimes by hundreds of years, and have distorted our understanding of our history. While we talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age, since these technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way. Katrine Marçal's Mother of Invention is a fascinating examination of business, technology, and innovation through a feminist lens. Marçal takes us on a tour of the global economy, arguing that gendered assumptions dictate which businesses get funding, how we value work, and how we trace human progress. And it carries a powerful message: If we upend our biases, we can unleash our full potential, tackling climate change and wielding technology to become more human, rather than less.

How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men

Mother of Invention

Siapa yang Memasak Makan Malam Adam Smith?

Wie in einer Welt für Männer gute Ideen ignoriert werden

Die Mutter der Erfindung

‘I am absurdly excited for this book’ Caroline Criado Perez Why did it take us 5,000 years to attach wheels to a suitcase? How did bras take us to the moon? And what would the world be like if we listened to women?

Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men

Considerado o Freaknomics feminista, este livro questiona o modelo masculino do pensamento econômico. Nele, a jornalista econômica Katrine Marçal explica como as bases teóricas da economia ignoram a mulher, cujo papel era provir o lar. Séculos depois, essa mesma lógica continua excluindo a mulher, que precisa fazer jornada dupla ao gerir carreira e família. Com linguagem envolvente e perspicaz e recheada de dados, a autora explica o funcionamento do mercado baseado na figura do homem econômico e defende que a única solução para uma sociedade mais igualitária é um pensamento econômico mais feminista.

Uma visão feminista

O lado invisível da economia

"How do you get your dinner? That is the basic question of economics. It might seem easy, but it is actually very complicated. When Adam Smith proclaimed that all our actions were motivated by self-interest and the world turned because of financial gain he laid the foundations for 'economic man'. Selfish and cynical, 'economic man' has dominated our thinking ever since, the ugly rational heart of modern day capitalism. But every night Adam Smith's mother served him his dinner, not out of self-interest, but out of love.Even today, the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning and cooking is not part of our economic models. All over the world, there are economists who believe that if women are paid less, then that's because their labour is worth less. In this engaging, popular look at the mess we're in, Katrine Kielos charts the myth of 'economic man', from its origins at Adam Smith's dinner table to its adaptation by the Chicago School and finally its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis"--Publisher's description.

ekonomide kadının görünmez eli

Adam Smith'in yemeğini pişiren kimdi?

Vänstern vid randen av den fjärde industriella revolutionen

An illuminating and maddening examination of how gender bias has skewed innovation, technology, and history—now in paperback It all starts with a rolling suitcase. Though the wheel was invented some 5,000 years ago, and the suitcase in the 19th century, it wasn’t until the 1970s that someone successfully married the two. What was the holdup? For writer and journalist Katrine Marçal, the answer is both shocking and simple: because “real men” carried their bags, no matter how heavy. Mother of Invention is a fascinating and eye-opening examination of business, technology, and innovation through a feminist lens. Because it wasn’t just the suitcase. Drawing on examples from electric cars to tech billionaires, Marçal shows how gender bias stifles the economy and holds us back, delaying innovations, sometimes by hundreds of years, and distorting our understanding of our history. While we talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age, since these technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way as those associated with men. Mother of Invention is a sweeping tour of the global economy with a powerful message: If we upend our biases, we can unleash our full potential.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. When Adam Smith wrote that all our actions stem from self-interest and that the world turns because of financial gain, he brought to life 'economic man'.

女性与经济学的故事

谁煮了亚当·斯密的晚餐

"When philosopher Adam Smith proclaimed that our actions are motivated by self-interest, he used the example of the baker and the butcher to lay the foundations for his "economic man." He argued that they gave bread and meat for profit, not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's an ironic point of view coming from a bachelor who lived with his mother for most of his life--a woman who cooked his dinner every night. Nevertheless, Smith's economic man has dominated our understanding of modern-day capitalism. Such a viewpoint disregards the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning, and cooking. Essentially, the father of modern economics has based our whole concept of capitalism on a system that ignores half of its participants. ... Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? charts the myth of the economic man, from its origins at Adam Smith's dinner table to its adaptation by the Chicago School to its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis."--Jacket.

Katrine Marçal

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