A feminist romp through pop culture that illuminates how women influence and shape the economy.
 
Taylor Swift isn't just a pop megastar. She is a working woman whose astounding accomplishments defy patriarchal norms. And while not all women can be Beyoncé or Dolly Parton or Reese Witherspoon, the successes of these trailblazing stars help us understand the central role of women in today's economy.
 
Swiftynomics assesses the complex economic lives of everyday American women through the stories of groundbreakers like Taylor Swift, Misty L. Heggeness digs into the data, revealing women's hidden contributions and aspirations—the unexamined value they create by pursuing their own ambitions. She highlights the abundance of productive activity in their daily lives and acknowledges the barriers they still face.
 
Exploring critical reforms regarding caregiving and gendered labor, this book offers advice for women to thrive in an economy that was not built for them.

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"Astute debut . . . both digestible and entertaining. Readers will appreciate this smart fusion of cultural analysis and feminist economics.”

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"In Swiftynomics, economist Misty L. Heggeness makes a simple but quietly radical point: you cannot understand the modern economy—or the future of work—without understanding what is happening in women’s economic lives."

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"Reinvention, masterminding, living your era – even if the Swiftie references elude you, Heggeness drives home the now established core principle of feminist economics – until we have greater equality in the home, and until society appropriately values the unpaid care labour that is overwhelmingly carried out by women, we will never be gender equal. . . . Offers a rich economics history and carries hefty political analysis that speaks to the entrenchment of these challenges, along with solid solutions."

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"Economist and author Misty Heggeness has a clear mission behind her new book Swiftynomics: make economics more engaging, more accessible and more inviting for girls and women. . . . If economics were taught in a way that met young women where they were, more would stay."

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"Respecting the intelligence and humanity of her audience, she centers this nonfiction narrative on the dynamic of spectacular women doing spectacular things for society as a whole."

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"Throughout, she shares robust data blended with pop culture and accessible anecdotes about women, both famous and not, who have left the old system behind to thrive economically on their own while building opportunities for others."

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"Don’t be misled by the title. Swiftynomics is not a book about a pop star. It is a book about women — the work we do, the value we create, and the ways economics has failed to account for any of it."