Nancy Folbre

Nancy Folbre
Name	Nancy Folbre
Birth date	1952
Birth place	United States
Nationality	United States
Occupation	economist
Alma mater	University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Massachusetts Boston
Notable works	The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems; Who Pays?; Greed, Lust and Gender

Nancy Folbre Nancy Folbre is an American economist and feminist scholar known for contributions to feminist economics, care work, and the political economy of the family. Her work spans academic research, public policy debates, and engagement with institutions addressing labor, welfare, and gender equality in the United States, Europe, and international forums. Folbre has held positions at leading universities and has published influential books and articles that intersect with debates on labor economics, social policy, and human rights.

Early life and education

Folbre was born in the United States and completed undergraduate studies before pursuing graduate education in economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Massachusetts Boston. During her formative years she engaged with intellectual currents associated with scholars at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Chicago. Her doctoral training placed her in contact with debates shaped by figures linked to Keynesian economics, institutional economics, and feminist theorists connected to Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan.

Academic career and positions

Folbre has served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she taught courses intersecting with economics, public policy, and gender studies. She has held visiting appointments and fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Cambridge. Folbre has collaborated with policy organizations such as the International Labour Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and think tanks linked to Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute debates. She has been a member of editorial boards for journals with connections to Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press publishing networks.

Research and major contributions

Folbre’s research foregrounds unpaid care, household production, and the distributional consequences of public policy across demographic groups analyzed by scholars at World Bank and United Nations agencies. She advanced arguments about the intrinsic and instrumental value of care drawing on theoretical lineages that include Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, and Karl Marx while dialoguing with feminist economists associated with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Her empirical work intersects with studies by researchers at RAND Corporation, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Pew Research Center on labor force participation, wage inequality, and family demography. Folbre contributed to modeling how social institutions studied by Max Weber and Émile Durkheim shape incentives around caregiving, linking to policy debates in contexts such as United Kingdom child support reforms and Sweden welfare state models. She has been influential in reframing debates alongside scholars associated with Joan Acker, Catherine Hakim, Amartya Sen, Diana Strassmann, and Nancy Fraser.

Publications and books

Folbre’s books include titles published by prominent presses and discussed alongside works by authors such as Elinor Ostrom, Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, Milton Friedman, and Paul Krugman. Representative works have been cited in discourse involving United Nations Development Programme, European Commission, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports. Her articles appear in journals where peers include contributors from American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Feminist Economics. Colleagues and commentators linking her work include Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Sheila Rothman, Arlie Russell Hochschild, and Saskia Sassen.

Awards and honors

Folbre has received recognition from academic and policy bodies connected to American Economic Association, International Association for Feminist Economics, and regional academies tied to Royal Economic Society and Academy of Social Sciences. Her work has been acknowledged in forums alongside laureates like Elinor Ostrom, Paul Krugman, and Joseph Stiglitz. She has been invited to speak at conferences hosted by United Nations, World Bank, International Labour Organization, and leading universities such as Harvard University and London School of Economics.

Influence and public engagement

Folbre has engaged in public scholarship through media outlets and policy dialogues involving The New York Times, The Washington Post, and magazines connected to The Atlantic and The Economist. She has contributed commentaries used by advocacy organizations such as CARE International, Oxfam, and United Nations Children's Fund in debates over social protection and care policies. Her influence extends to collaborations with scholars from Columbia University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University on interdisciplinary projects concerning demographic change, labor markets, and welfare state reform.

Category:American economists Category:Feminist economists