The Forgotten Godmother of Economic Literature
New York Times reporter Jeanna Smialek joins Odd Lots to discuss her biography of Maria Edgeworth, a bestselling Regency-era novelist who popularized Adam Smith's economic ideas through fiction. The conversation explores Edgeworth's intellectual exchanges with David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus, how the Irish potato famine altered her laissez-faire views, and how the shift from moral philosophy to mathematical modeling obscured early women economists. They also examine historical parallels between the early Industrial Revolution and today's AI-driven disruptions.
- Maria Edgeworth borrowed the title of her novel Castle Rackrent directly from Adam Smith's economic concept of "racked rent." Read →
- In 1800, early factory adoption sparked widespread fear that repetitive labor would mechanize human beings, mirroring modern concerns about artificial intelligence replacing knowledge work. Read →
- Maria Edgeworth popularized Adam Smith's free-market concepts across 19th-century Europe through bestselling fiction, debating thinkers like David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus directly. Read →
- Maria Edgeworth outsold Jane Austen during the Regency era, writing bestsellers that taught Adam Smith's economic ideas to a public confronting the early Industrial Revolution. Read →
- Regency novelist Maria Edgeworth used David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage to argue Ireland should specialize entirely in potatoes. Read →