The Great Crisis and the Significance of Gender in the U.S. Economy

Thorstein Veblen, the founder of institutional economics, treated the study of "woman's place" as central to economic analysis, and his views on women's social and economic status were an integral part of both his critique of American society and mainstream economic thought. This presidential address to the Association for Evolutionary Economics considers the insights gained by observing the "Great Recession" through the intellectual window of "woman's place." The address begins by highlighting some of the main arguments of, and responses to, a particular narrative of the nature and consequences of the economic downturn that labeled the "Great Recession" a "Mancession," and then identifies key aspects of feminist-institutionalist thought that provide important insights into the significance of this popular narrative and reinforce the importance of doing institutionalist work that is feminist.