Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?

Katrine Marcal

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781681774442
• eBook ISBN: 9781681771854
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

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, ' arguing 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.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.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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Preface to The American Edition
• Prologue
• Chapter One: In which we climb into the world of economics and ask ourselves who Adam Smith’s mother was
• Chapter Two: In which we are introduced to economic man and realize that he is incredibly seductive
• Chapter Three: In which it becomes apparent that economic man is not a woman
• Chapter Four: In which we see that our pact with economic man isn’t turning out as we had expected
• Chapter Five: In which we add women and stir
• Chapter Six: In which Las Vegas and Wall Street merge
• Chapter Seven: In which the global economy goes to hell
• Chapter Eight: In which we see that men are also not like economic man
• Chapter Nine: In which economic incentives aren’t shown to be as uncomplicated as we might think
• Chapter Ten: In which we see that you aren’t selfish just because you want more money
• Chapter Eleven: In which we see that a negative number is still zero
• Chapter Twelve: In which we all become entrepreneurs
• Chapter Thirteen: In which we see that the uterus isn’t a space capsule
• Chapter Fourteen: In which we discover economic man’s unforeseen depths and fears
• Chapter Fifteen: In which we see that the greatest story of our time only has one sex
• Chapter Sixteen: In which we will see that every society suffers in line with its bullshit. And we say goodbye.
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Credits
• Index of Persons
• Copyright