A proper reckoning

HAD he lived to see it, Alfred Marshall, a 19th-century giant of economics, probably would not have celebrated International Women’s Day, which takes place on March 8th. “If you compete with us, we shan’t marry you,” he once gallantly warned the fairer sex. In his book, Principles of Economics, he described the field as “the study of men as they live and move and think in the ordinary business of life”.

Economics still has its problems with women. In 2014 only 12% of American economics professors were female, and only one woman (Elinor Ostrom) has won the Nobel prize for economics. But in terms of focus, economists have embraced some feminist causes. Papers abound on the “pay gap” (American women earned 21% less than men for full-time work in 2014), and the extra growth that could be unlocked if only women worked and earned more. A recent paper*, for instance, claimed that eliminating gender discrimination in Saudi Arabia could bring its GDP per person almost level with America’s. (Feminists, of course, consider gender equality a worthy goal irrespective of its impact on GDP.) That raises a question. Does “Feminist economics”, which has its own journal, really bring anything distinctive?