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New article by Cheryl Doss examines drawbacks of integration of feminist economics into mainstream economics

 A new article by Cheryl Doss argues that while we should celebrate the integration of work done by feminist economists into mainstream household economics we should also consider the potential perils.

Over the past 30 years, feminist economists have been at the forefront of work on household and intrahousehold economics. To a significant degree, their work has entered mainstream economics. The article argues that while this is a success story, both in the impact on academia and the broader implications for policy, feminist economists should pause to reflect on the potential perils that accompany these successes.

What gets lost when intrahousehold issues are folded into mainstream economic analyses? What is still missing in this literature? What still needs to be on the agenda for feminist economists working on issues around households? The article highlights five potential perils: the focus on individuals, the narrow definition of households, the tendency for questions to be driven by available data and metrics, the possibility of collecting more data than scholars can use, and the need to include social norms and structural constraints.

Cheryl Doss (2021) 'Diffusion and Dilution: The Power and Perils of Integrating Feminist Perspectives Into Household Economics', Feminist Economics, DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2021.1883701.