It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest
When Adam Smith wrote that all our actions stem from self-interest and the world turns because of financial gain he brought to life ‚economic man‘. Selfish and cynical, economic man has dominated our thinking ever since and his influence has spread from the market to how we shop, work and date. But every night Adam Smith’s mother served him his dinner, not out of self-interest but out of love.
Today, our economics focuses on self-interest and excludes all other motivations. It disregards the unpaid work of mothering, caring, cleaning and cooking. It insists that if women are paid less, then that’s because their labour is worth less – how could it be otherwise?
Economics has told us a story about how the world works and we have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker. Now it’s time to change the story.
In this courageous look at the mess we’re in, Katrine Marçal tackles the biggest myth of our time and invites us to kick out economic man once and for all.

The response of mainstream Sweden to the recent riots is proof of Prime Minister Reinfeldt’s success in leading a political project based on an impossible promise.

Es ist nicht leicht, Sozialdemokrat zu sein. Wenn wir zu unseren politischen Programmen stehen und verlieren, heißt es, wir seien nun einmal veraltet. Wenn wir versuchen, unsere politischen Programme zu erneuern und verlieren, heißt es, wir hätten unsere Wurzeln verraten. Die Lösung ist einfach: nicht zu verlieren. Darin lag früher die besondere Begabung der schwedischen Sozialdemokratie.

It’s not easy being a social democrat. When we stick to our political programmes and lose, they say it’s because we’re outdated. When we try to renew our political programmes and lose, they say it’s because we’ve betrayed our roots. The solution is simple: don’t lose. That used to be the genius of Swedish social democracy.