Women and the Economics of the Franchise in Sweden

This paper examines the contributions of Anna Bugge Wicksell and Alva Reimer Myrdal to the economics of the franchise. Bugge Wicksell and Reimer Myrdal were formidable scholars, feminists, and politicians who worked on issues of women’s rights in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Sweden. Bugge Wicksell was a leading advocate of the right for women to vote; of the next generation, Reimer Myrdal worked to translate voting power into social policies that supported the emancipation of women the economics of the franchise are interesting for two reasons. First, through their partnerships, Bugge Wicksell and Reimer Myrdal had access to economic theorizing at the highest levels unusual for women of the time; their contributions illustrate the practical applications of the formal theoretical work produced by their husbands. Second, their work set Sweden on a path of economic development that has yielded some of the best equality outcomes for women in the world.