A Wealth of Ideas, Muffled by Men.
In the 1800s, Maria Edgeworth wrote novels full of economic theory. Where were her contributions slighted?
Edgeworth sneaked economic theory into her best-selling novels. Two centuries later, a new book finally gives her the credit she deserves.
By Jeanna Smialek
“The daughter of an economist, she was perhaps the first woman to express opinions about the workings of the economy,” Robert Heilbroner wrote...
She had been a famous Irish novelist at the turn of the 19th century, one so well-regarded that she drastically out-earned her contemporary Jane Austen. Sir Walter Scott was her pen pal and protégé. Lord Byron envied her. Ricardo and Malthus called her a close friend. This was all surprising...
Edgeworth was embarking on a project that was larger than her own oeuvre. She began to coach other literary women on how to include economics in their work... Maria Edgeworth believed that economics should be for everyone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/business/she-popularized-economics-then-she-was-erased-from-history-why.html
The Invisible Hand of Maria Edgeworth
How a Nineteenth-Century Novelist Taught the World Economics
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/742170/the-invisible-hand-of-maria-edgeworth-by-jeanna-smialek/