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Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?: A Story of Women and Economics Hardcover – June 7, 2016

by Katrine Marcal (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 310 ratings
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A funny, clever, and thought-provoking examination of the myth of the "economic man" and its impact on the global economy

How do you get your dinner? That is the basic question of economics. When economist and philosopher Adam Smith proclaimed that all our actions were motivated by self-interest, he used the example of the baker and the butcher as he laid the foundations for 'economic man.' He argued that the baker and butcher didn't give bread and meat 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, the economic man has dominated our understanding of modern-day capitalism, with a focus on self-interest and the exclusion of all other motivations. Such a view point disregards the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning and cooking. It insists that if women are paid less, then that's because their labor is worth less. Economics has told us a story about how the world works and we have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker. This story has not served women well. Now it's time to change it.

A kind of femininst Freakonomics, Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? charts the myth of economic man ― from its origins at Adam Smith's dinner table, its adaptation by the Chicago School, and its disastrous role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis ― in a witty and courageous dismantling of one of the biggest myths of our time.

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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pegasus Books
  4. Publication date
    June 7, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    5.9 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    168177142X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1681771427
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“An exciting reassessment of the global economy that provocatively extends the frontiers of the feminist critique.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“A spirited and witty manifesto. Commanding rhetoric punctuated with spiky wit.”
- New Statesman

“Katrine Marçal’s searing new book exposes the flaws of classical economics and its modern incarnations and in particular its missionary zeal to subordinate all other human aims at the altar of the market. With wit and a hefty dose of anger, she tells a convincing story of the history of economic man. A powerful, and entertaining, story.”
- Prospect Magazine

“Thoughtfully challenges conventional assumptions about work, productivity, and value. An enjoyable read, and dryly witty.”
- The Baffler

“Marçal’s romp through the development of the field and the work of Smith, Keynes, Freud, the Chicago School, and Lawrence Summers (among others) is as diverting as it is thoughtful, especially as she points out the gaping hole at its center: the places where self-interest and the market can’t quite reach. Midway through her book, Marçal writes about Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique ― in its own way, this vivid, entertaining work is equally groundbreaking.”
- The Boston Globe

“A smart, funny, readable book on economics, money [and] women.”
- Margaret Atwood (on Twitter)

“A no-holds-barred critique of how modern economic theory has largely excluded the contributions of women. She drives her point home with the ferocity of a hammer striking an anvil: economic man is a fiction that excludes women.”
- Booklist

“Marçal, a columnist for the Swedish paper ­Aftonbladet, examines the age-old economics question, ‘How do you get your dinner?’ with thought-provoking results. Marçal’s analysis chronicles how this system of capitalism came to exist and demonstrates why the idea of the economic man may no longer be a solid fit. This humorous and accessible examination of serious issues at the crossroads of economics and gender equality is intended to stimulate questions more than to provide answers.”
- Library Journal

“Sharp writing, numerous examples and familiar pop culture references (think Pretty Woman, Robinson Crusoe, and the goose that laid the golden egg). Engaging and non-threatening (even for people who break into a sweat when trying to balance their checkbooks). An important book.”
- Pop Matters

“Wittily written.”
- Publishers Weekly

“A thorough and thoughtful attack on homo economicus, from a feminist standpoint.”
- San Francisco Review of Books

“This is not your standard economics text. Marçal, who writes in snappy (and often spirited) prose, focuses on what an alternative, and more inclusive, economics should look like. An accessible and lively primer on the topic. A well-written and thoroughly researched call to change economics into a discipline that makes “room for the entire human existence” that all economists would do well to heed.”
- Science News

“An excellent argument for the value of feminism as an analytical lens. A masterpiece of rhetoric, clearheaded analysis, and critical imagination. a model of radical thought. Marçal’s critique―and the anti-capitalist feminist tradition on which it stands―is a historical insight of unimaginable potential.”
- New Republic

“A sprawling, engaging feminist polemic. Interesting.”
- New York Times Book Review

“An interesting and thoughtful read.”
- The Billfold

“Marçal provides a complete history of the ideas behind, and subsequent realities of, market economics. She is a writer’s writer, using brilliant literary and historical metaphors to bring clarity and life to the story.”
- 800CEORead (Editor's Choice)

About the Author

Katrine Marçal is a journalist for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, where she writes about economics, finance and politics. She lives in a village north of London.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pegasus Books; First Edition (June 7, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 168177142X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681771427
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.9 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 310 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Saskia Vogel

    Saskia Vogel

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    Saskia Vogel is a writer and literary translator from Los Angeles. She has written on the themes of gender, power, and sexuality for publications such as Granta, The White Review, The Offing, and The Quietus. Her translations include work by leading Swedish female authors, such as Katrine Marçal, Karolina Ramqvist and the modernist eroticist Rut Hillarp. Previously, she worked in London as Granta magazine’s global publicist and in Los Angeles as an editor at the AVN Media Network, where she reported on the business of pornography and adult pleasure products. She holds degrees in film, comparative literature, and writing from Brunel University, the University of Southern California, and University College London.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Katrine Marçal

    Katrine Marçal

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
310 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars His mom.
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
Not really a spoiler. 'Economic man" pervades all aspects of society. What if economic woman was just as important?

What does that Q even mean?
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Carolina Campoy
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book 📚
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2023
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This book makes very interesting points. Sometimes I had to stop and research some information (I don’t know much of economics). I sometimes felt some chapters would not connect with the main idea the book tries to outline but maybe that’s just my perception.
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Wpak
5.0 out of 5 stars The invisible hand, mommy.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2021
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Who'd thought the father of economics, had his momma care for him his adult life Unpaid?
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018
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A bit of a disappointment. She didn't have to repeat the main theme over and over and over.
One person found this helpful
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Yigal gudkov
5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book written in years.
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2018
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The most important book writtenThe most important book written in years. An economic perspective that usually does not receive exposure, discussion. Most of us have a mother, but for some reason we never paid attention to her economic contribution. It was the women who rehabilitated the economies after the stupid wars of men. years.
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A great analysis
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2017
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This is a great analysis of the current economic theories and their flaws. The main flaw being the lack of inclusion of women Everyone should read this book. It will make you reconsider the status quo.
5 people found this helpful
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ARG
4.0 out of 5 stars This is the story of how we have turned a theory that we know isn't very good into the ideal that we should in fact try ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2016
Verified Purchase
A reexamination of the foundations of economics as born in Wealth of Nations. It is a feminist perspective and it is about women, but it is not really at the same time. More so it is a critique of the rational actor or 'economic man' as it is called here. We all know this is nonsense even the economists who hang their life's work on economic theory that relies on this. This book sets up a story of first how we got this economic man and how Margaret Douglas cooking her son's meal her whole life being left out got us in this mess and second the long range consequences of not just ignoring women and unpaid labor but pretending any one is truly a rational actor in reality. This is the story of how we have turned a theory that we know isn't very good into the ideal that we should in fact try to become. Very interesting read. Quite funny. The only clue I had that this was a translation was not so much the phrasing but that some examples are of the native Sweden which is odd unless it is a Swedish book as an American reader.
6 people found this helpful
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John W
5.0 out of 5 stars A call to social justice and gender parity through economic ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2016
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A call to social justice and gender parity through economic justice and recognition of our essential connectedness, Marcal's book is witty, well-researched, well-reasoned, and very timely. Deserves to be widely read, and has special relevance in the U.S. during these pre-election months.
5 people found this helpful
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Lisa Maria Ansell
5.0 out of 5 stars Received days ago
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2023
Verified Purchase
This is a really great book. Replacement of an older copy.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book on Feminist perspectives on Neo Liberal Economics
Reviewed in India on August 11, 2021
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The Book raises insightful questions answers them in an easy to read yet effective manner.
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Dr Artemysia
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Italy on April 14, 2020
Verified Purchase
An excellent book-length essay that reads like a novel. Unputdownable. If you loved Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez, you will love this book, which I guess was one of her ideological sources.
Clear for those who are not economists, it makes a series of compelling arguments amd I found myself underlining large parts of it.
Now I am going to give this to the men in my life who usually don't understand feminism. They will get the economic relevance of feminism through this.
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Kookaburra
3.0 out of 5 stars What do modern great British scholars on economics think about?
Reviewed in Japan on October 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
The book title's answer was his mother (and his sister).

I suppose it means the author wanted to say that the modern economy must
be considered by including women's way of thinking too.

That's quite correct, but I think the author couldn't only answer the question it
directly but her main logic seemed to be changed to the gender problems.

According to the Nobel Prize on Economics in 2022, that shows the whole Great
Britain faces the very complicated economic crisis now. I hope that new Prime
Minister (maybe Mr. Snuk?) will solve the difficult questions because since Adam
Smith modern great economists in this country could not necessarily solve them.

Needless to say, Japan now has much more serious economic problems than
the Great Britain has.

Japanese must solve its economic problems by its own ability first of all. I hear
"Mind your own business!"
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Anna Niocenn
5.0 out of 5 stars Intéressant manuel d'économie
Reviewed in France on January 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
où une femme exprime son point de vue. Les économistes étant tous des mâles, raisonnant du point de vue des hommes donc, les femmes et leur travail (80 % des corvées UTILES de la planète, extorquées dans le mariage) sont invisibles. Il se trouve que Adam Smith était célibataire, c'était donc sa mère qui assurait l'intendance pour pas un rond. Notez que même ces célibataires de curés ont une bonne ! Les femmes exclues des moyens de production, et leurs contributions des PIB marchands masculins, se contentent donc des miettes qui tombent de la table du banquet des hommes. Le patriarcat et ses agents sont des parasites des femmes, de la nature et des animaux, et c'est planétaire.
One person found this helpful
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