A Feminist Comparative Economic Systems

Abstract

This study proposes that feminist research be integrated into the field of comparative economic systems (CES) and that CES return to its traditional institutionalist methodologies to facilitate more complete analyses of economic systems and feminist alternatives to these systems and institutions. The study describes the evolution of CES, drawing attention to an increasing reliance on econometric modeling that reflects a shift in focus away from systems. An inventory of research on women and gender that has appeared in CES journals and textbooks finds little on topics other than formal labor markets in transition economies. The study contrasts this literature on women and gender in transition economies to research on this topic by women from transition economies, a literature that CES journal authors do not reference. It concludes by proposing a feminist economics approach that focuses on gender-differentiated impacts of economic systems, analyses of households, and equity as a measure of progress.Economic methodology, feminist theory, economic transition, women, post-socialism, economic systems,

Teaching comparative economic systems 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union

“…Dallago (2004, 84) opined that "CES does not have a distinct method, but is more an eclectic field of research in which researchers belonging to different schools of economic thought and following different theories work on problems of more or less common interest". Hopkins and Duggan (2011) describe the traditional methodology in CES as primarily relying on case studies and model economies rather than the data and tool driven methods common in other fields. Recently, scholars have begun to increasingly employ the same econometric strategies used in development studies, labor economics, and industrial organization (see Ben-Ner et al, 1993;Hopkins and Duggan 2011).…”

“…Hopkins and Duggan (2011) describe the traditional methodology in CES as primarily relying on case studies and model economies rather than the data and tool driven methods common in other fields. Recently, scholars have begun to increasingly employ the same econometric strategies used in development studies, labor economics, and industrial organization (see Ben-Ner et al, 1993;Hopkins and Duggan 2011). However, Murrell (2011) argues that practitioners continue to pay less attention to theory than the rest of economics discipline.…”