No comments about America Before Welfare.

2 comments about The Economics of Women, Men, and Work (4th Edition).

1. This book can be read at many levels -- used for a course or read as needed. You can answer questions like: How is unfair discrimination measured? Why do jobs that employ women pay less than those that employ men even if the requirements are similar. Go beyond romantic love to answer questions about whether marriage makes sense. Does welfare make peole work less? These two academics represent mainstream, what is called "institutional labor econmics." Anyone interested in the labor market, gender equity, international comparisons on how women are doing will find this book accessible. You do not have to have formal education in economics.



2. This book is an overview of how gender and race play into neo-classical economic theory. The authors discuss both macro- and micro-economic models, and how differences in gender and race can be explained using the models. Topics covered include: gender roles and economic development (in the US), division of labor within the family, allocation of time between the household and the labor market, consequences of women's employment for the family, differences in occupations and earnings, joblessness, and sex differences in other countries. The discussion is confined primarily to the US economy, although the theoretical aspects should be applicable elsewhere, and there is a brief section at the end of the book examining a few economic aspects of gender in developing countries, the U.S.S.R, and Sweden. Although the text generally focuses on gender differences, racial differences are also discussed with almost every topic. For the most part, the book examines only the economics of married heterosexual women, and women who are single or partners in same-sex unions fall outside the scope of the discussion. More in-depth explorations of theoretical issues are provided in appendices which follow several of the chapters. Each chapter includes a brief list of suggested readings. End material consists of an author index and a subject index.
   
   The authors strongly advocate for women engaging in the labor market rather than restricting their work to household activities. They argue that this will likely maximize household income both in the short run and the long term, and provide a much better chance of financial viability for a woman and her children in case her marriage dissolves through divorce or widowhood. They also point out national policies, such as limited subsidies for childcare, that tend to make working in the labor market less attractive for American women. They point out that the families of women who take part in the labor market do not suffer adversely, and that the benefits for the family outweigh the costs.
   
   Rather than simply reporting the facts about gender differences relating to economics, the authors seek to explain motivations and behaviors through economic theory. The book is filled with charts of supply-and-demand-type "indifference curves", designed to show how a typical person feels about participating in the labor market, and at what point he or she will join or leave the market according to possible financial returns. These charts are used both to explain labor market statistics, and to argue the authors' point that women should participate in the labor market. I found the explanatory approach interesting in its attempts to provide a theoretical basis for observed gender differences. However, I'm not entirely convinced that the assumptions that the theory is based on are correct. For example, the authors assume that couples will strive to maximize their income, but is this the real goal that couples are working towards? What about couples who seek to maximize their satisfaction in their family relationships, or their children's development, or those whose financial goal is only to earn "enough" and not to spend a single superfluous minute in the labor market? And what about those who participate in the labor market solely for the joy of it, and not for the financial returns? The possibility that some individuals might have different goals that would affect their participation in the labor market would probably complicate the models found here so much as to make them unworkable. The models must be made simple in order to work, but since the real world is more complex, it's not clear how relevant the simple models are for the real world. In general, the authors tend to overlook or downplay cultural factors that may have stronger effects on economic behavior than the theoretical economic factors that they discuss. Nevertheless, the book provides an interesting starting point for analyzing gender differences in economic behavior, and it also provides an excellent overview of research on women's labor market participation in the US through the 1980s.

No comments about Community of Suffering & Struggle: Women, Men, and the Labor Movement in Minneapolis, 1915-1945 (Gender and American Culture).

No comments about Working Women in Renaissance Germany (Douglas Series on Women's Lives and the Meaning of Gender).

2 comments about Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600.

1. I've been researching beer & brewing and this book was a great look at the time when the business changed from a largely female run, household-based, business, to a guild-organized, male-dominated business. I had no idea how the Black Death contributed to this change. A fascinating book!



2. This book answered all the questions I asked of it. As part of my on-going research into the lives of women in England in this period it was excellent.

No comments about Home and Hegemony: Domestic Service and Identity Politics in South and Southeast Asia.

No comments about Welfare, the Working Poor, and Labor.

3 comments about Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory (The Lyndhurst Series on the South).

1. This book, and a traveling exhibit due at Yale this fall and The Smithsonian in early next year, captures the feelings and human aspect of what happens when a family owned furniture factory is closed due to a hostile takeover. The pictures and accompaning text document from an historical and extremely personal perspective the lives of workers in a small town in North Carolina, dependant on each other and the factory, and the devastation that occurs when big city, outside forces make an impersonal decision regarding people 1000 miles away.



2. a reasonably balanced view of a factory closing that doesn't make the owner out to be a devil (although some former workers clearly feel that way). Shows the human side of what happens when decisions are made based on the aseptic "bottom line". If anything, the book is not hard enough on the original family, the 1st generation that admirably built the company and the second generation that let it deteriorate (the book details how the 2 family members at the top didn't even talk to one another and used separate entrances to the building! Is it any wonder the financials deteriorated and they had to sell?)

   The only thing missing is an interview with the capitalist that closed the plant. If they tried and he refused the book ought to say so, otherwise it seems that at least a few pages could have been devoted to his side of the story.

   All in all, though, a great book to read, as a counterbalance for all of us that invest thru our 401Ks and retirement accounts expecting great returns and divorced from how those returns are obtained (and at what cost to some people).




3. This book does an excellent job of demonstrating the effects of a factory closing in a small southern town. As a former resident of the town (childhood home) and a former worker in the machine room and rubbing room of White's Furniture Factory, I was amazed at the depth of analysis and truthfulness in this book. This book demonstrated how the closing of a factory not only affects the workers, but prior workers, and the entire population of the town. I was surprised to see the pictures that were included that told a story all to themselves. This book is highly recommended for college professors wishing to pursue the effects of a factory closing and other downsizing efforts on a small town's population. A great story line supplemented by outstanding pictures as the authors take the reader through the last years of a 100+ year factory that the entire town centered their lives around. Highly recommended for those interested in the effects of a closing on the local population.

1 comments about The Economics of the European Union: Policy and Analysis.

1. This is one of the classic text in the area. It covers most of the main policy areas in a series of chapters written by separate authors. The multi-author thing is a bit disturbing given very different levels. Another drawback is that it contains relatively little economics and not all of that is up-to-date -- most of the book presents policy and institutional details. The latest version is quite up-to-date but nothing on the Constitutional Treaty and little on the 2004 enlargement.

No comments about The Constitutional Logic of Affirmative Action.