Book Review — Swiftynomics by Misty Heggeness

Labor/research economist Misty L. Heggeness illustrates ways in which superstar Taylor Swift has advanced women’s equality

Photo by the Author

Toward the end of 2025, I watched a booktalk on C-SPAN…which has become a regular habit of mine throughout the calendar year. As part of the network’s Book TV broadcasts, it had been originally televised in August of 2025 at the Kansas City Public Library.

The reason this particular forum caught my eye: its featured author, Misty Heggeness, was talking about how best-selling vocalist Taylor Swift has become a prime leader for women’s empowerment. So, despite having had minimal exposure to Ms. Swift’s discography of hit songs, I decided to check out the book — *Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy*.

In this new release, Ms. Heggeness takes readers on a tour of history — interspersed with anecdotes, factoids, and observations pertaining to Ms. Swift’s evolving legacy. Amidst this journey, she demonstrates how key women have shaped (and continue to shape!) both the domestic and global economies.

One additional note: in her Introduction, Misty Heggeness explains how she uses people’s first names across the board throughout Swiftynomics. Her intent, as she frames it, is to both symbolize and model gender parity via this approach.

Therefore, in that spirit, I will likewise use only first names (including the author’s) for the remainder of this book review.

WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

If you’re a woman (or girl) who is tired of only talking about equality — and who wants more guidance for putting those endeavors into action — Swiftynomics could give you that shot-in-the-arm to pursue bold and creative new undertakings.

If you’re a man (or boy) who likewise wishes to see gender equality attained (and misogyny crushed!) — this book may provide you with some role models and organizations to whom you should consider lending your support.

Misty’s utmost strength, when penning Swiftynomics, was how she laid out brutal facts without lecturing the reader. Respecting the intelligence and humanity of her audience, she centers this nonfiction narrative on the dynamic of spectacular women doing spectacular things for society as a whole.

STYLE / FORMAT

With 180 pages of prose-style content, Misty sections Swiftynomics into eight chapters. She also includes an Introduction, an Acknowledgments Section, a Notes Section, a Selected Bibliography Section, and an index.

Misty speaks from a position of utmost expertise — as an economist who specializes in policy analysis, labor research, contract & grant management, statistical evaluation, and public leadership. But it’s also clear she’s a huge fan of Taylor Swift’s music, through which she passionately relates every major topic covered in her book.

In that vein, each of the main chapters in Swiftynomics is subtitled after one of Taylor’s songs.

Preface — the author reflects on the life experiences of her own grandmothers, using it as a springboard to tell the stories of women who go unnoticed and unrecognized.

Introduction — Misty explores the significance of Taylor’s Eras Tour, including how Taylor’s music challenges misogyny and represents women’s purchasing power. She estimates that 53% of Americans define themselves as Taylor Swift fans. Misty previews several of the women whose accomplishments she’ll showcase throughout the book, while alluding to her technique of blending microeconomics with pop culture.

Chapter One — entitled “Reinvention (Taylor’s Version),” the author spotlights Taylor’s hit song “Look What You Made Me Do.” The song shows how art imitates life (and vice versa), as evidenced when Taylor was publicly gaslit by Kim Kardashian and Kanye West; later, she recorded her old albums against the wishes of studio heads. Other women in music — including Beyoncé, Mon Laferte, and P!nk — have similarly taken such actions into their own hands. Taylor’s tenacity paid off for her in the end, as she retained approximately 85% of the revenue from her Eras Tour.

Misty shares the success of lawyer Eve Rodsky, who came from a modest upbringing yet attended an elite magnet school that gave her skills to mentor women on transcending the shackles of unpaid labor in life. This chapter is where Misty defines “care privilege” as referring to unearned advantages through which someone has their everyday needs taken care of by another person; on balance, men benefit from this privilege more frequently than women do. However, she makes it clear that misogyny can be instigated by anyone — as Misty testifies to how there have been men who’ve uplifted her, whereas some women have attempted to thwart or undermine her.

Chapter Two — entitled “Survival: Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” Misty cites *Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner?*, a 2012 book by Swedish journalist Katrine Marçal; it challenges the “Invisible Hand Theory” by emphasizing the unpaid labor of women across centuries. Misty also draws attention to the fact that Taylor’s romantic relationship with football superstar Travis Kelce has brought tons of new fans to the NFL. She dissects the shortfalls and fallacies of “Economic Man Theory,” criticizing commentators such as John Stuart Mill, Gary Becker, Marie Kondo, and Paul Samuelson. The problem, she says, is they rely too much on math to predict human behavior.

Another intriguing dichotomy I learned from Misty was how she divides female economists into two flawed archetypes: “granolas” and “pearl clutchers” — although each of these schools-of-thought thrives in an area where the other falls short. Just like how Taylor found alternatives to reshape existing paradigms, Misty spotlights more than a dozen female economists who transcend this granola-vs.-pearl-clutcher divide to find new ways of doing things: Claudia Goldin, Julie Nielson, Kate Bahn, and Shelly Lundberg top her list.

Chapter Three — entitled “Misogyny: You Have the Right to Prove Them Wrong,” the author praises women who became integral leaders of the #MeToo movement. Its goal has been two-pronged: urge people to believe survivors of sexual crimes, and force their predators and assailants to be held accountable. Misty recounts her own sexual assault in 1997 by a roommate’s boyfriend when she was a college sophomore (incidentally, this calendar year overlapped with my own sexual assault from when I was a high school freshman).

When it comes to #MeToo, Misty emphasizes how telling our stories along with strength in numbers are the best ways to move the needle. She invokes the August 2023 sexual offense of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales to demonstrate how powerful men can face justice for power abuses. Taylor, meanwhile, has been reinvesting in underserved communities while recording classic songs for younger generations.

Chapter Four — entitled “Care Work: Invisible,” Misty credits Andrea Swift, Taylor’s mother, with doing a lot of the legwork that made Taylor’s career possible. Unpaid work accounts for at least 25% of America’s GDP, with domestic roles falling disproportionately upon women. That leaves much less leisure time (and greater stress and physical exhaustion) for these same women. Part of the appeal of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie saw both Barbie and Ken having to reinvent themselves by the end of the film. Misty points out how the idealized Barbieland “while driven by little girls’ imaginations, is nothing more than the ‘real’ economy with a reversal of binary gendered expectations.”

Misty exposes the double standards against women in a society that is built for privileged archetypes of men. Not surprisingly, most of the remote-learning pods formed during the COVID-19 pandemic were run by women. She proposes that investing more in childcare and caregiving should have the effect of reducing the gendered stigmas that dissuade men (and boys) from participating in these sectors. Misty builds upon the definition of “care privilege” she’d introduced in Chapter One, which causes the stress of carrying such a burden to accumulate over time. She invites us to reshape the Barbieland motif by creating a “Fertility Land” that emphasizes family planning…and where women don’t have to sacrifice their careers at higher rates than men.

She ends the chapter by calling for such a “Barbieland 2.0” to have a more even distribution of gender participation in heterosexual-led household labor. Although the racial wealth gap between Black and White mothers has somewhat closed, the gender gap still sees female workers earning an average of only 83 cents for every dollar earned by male workers. Rosie the Riveter changed the perception of women in labor industries for the better — but future attempts at building upon this progress were thwarted when Richard Nixon vetoed the CCDA (Comprehensive Child Development Act) and Joe Manchin tanked the original Build Back Better bill. While Misty credits Baby Boomer women with giving younger girls the confidence to aspire for more, a reality remains where adequate social support systems to achieve it were never laid down.

Chapter Five — entitled “Generations: marjorie / The Best Day,” the author demonstrates how women have built upon the accomplishments of those who came before them — at both familial and societal levels. Misty delves into the philanthropic efforts of Rebekah Harkness as well as Taylor’s titular song about actress Clara Bow. She also profiles economic historian Phyllis Dean’s research on manual labor along with economic anthologist Joanna Rostek compiling the stories shared by women active in “moral economics.”

Then, Misty shares the backgrounds of many high-profile Twentieth-Century women who’ve been trailblazers in their professions: Frances Perkins, Dolores Huerta, Madonna, Claudia Goldin, and Dolly Parton among them. She draws parallels between their paths and the path that Taylor has forged for herself.

According to Misty, the two watershed turning points for women during the Twentieth Century were passage of both the Nineteenth Amendment (in 1920) and the Lanham Act (in 1940) — these landmarks gave women greater autonomy over their lives in terms of, respectively, voting rights and childcare infrastructure. As women prioritized their careers over motherhood across subsequent decades, those two victories became even more astutely valued in hindsight.

Chapter Six — entitled “Motherhood: Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” Misty starts out by expressing appreciation for the character layers of Donna Berzatto (portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis) on FX’s dramedy The Bear. She also exhibits the times when Rihanna, P!nk, and Beyoncé shared the stage with their children — Riot Rose (then unborn), Willow, and Blue Ivy, respectively. She commends track star Allyson Felix, who took the lead in providing a nursery at the 2024 Parisian Olympic Village for athletes who needed childcare during their training and competitions.

Misty narrates her personal experience balancing motherhood with her PhD studies — juxtaposing that with how women often miss out on career advancement & promotions when they take leave from work for motherhood. On top of that, women are frequently expected to hide their motherhood or familial stress from bosses & colleagues.

Because of this systemic misogyny, lawyer & nonprofit founder Reshma Saujani mapped out the “Marshall Plan for Moms” as a blueprint to procure resources for mothers and other caregivers. Congress discontinued the ARPA tax credits for parents in September of 2023, which underscores the need for legislative action.

Chapter Seven — entitled “Self-Investment: You Don’t Own Me,” the author focuses on risk-taking. She applauds Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora for building “The 19th” — an independent news outlet that hones in on the intersection of gender and politics. Melinda French Gates created Pivotal Ventures to wield holistic approaches for advancing women’s influence. MacKenzie Scott’s charitable giving endeavors inspired the TV series Loot (starring Maya Rudolph).

Ana Duggal (a Founding Partner of the Female Founders Fund) proposes reducing bias at the earliest stages of female-led startups so that the presence of women as entrepreneurs will grow more normalized. Sallie Krawcheck, Haley Sacks, and Claire Wasserman focus on female wealth-building — especially to model behavior for Millennial & Zoomer women. Also, reproductive health rights (including abortion, oral contraception, and IUDs) have been normalized to the point where even the harmful Dobbs decision (overturning Roe v. Wade) won’t be enough for knuckle-draggers to make such resources fade into oblivion.

Touting all of these successful women, Misty concludes, will only show how robust financial power can expand resources for less-privileged women.

Chapter Eight — entitled “Negotiation and Planning: Mastermind,” Misty’s final main chapter begins with how the presence of Black cowgirls & cowboys has been erased by White historians. This forced invisibility is at the root of why Beyoncé gets dismissed as a legitimate country music star, despite Beyoncé’s clear talent and familiarity with the genre. Indeed, BIPOC women earn only an average of 70 to 93 cents for every dollar earned by White men in the United States. I found this to be of temporal interest based on the article I’d recently written (“How a ‘Feminist Bake Sale’ Can Uphold Patriarchy”) related to this reality.

What ultimately causes a critical mass of women to fall behind in their careers would be the combined factors of maternity leave plus (after returning to work) daily caretaking. Our schools have been culturally trained to regard moms as the default contact person for students (even when parents request that a dad be listed as the primary contact). Labor activist Ai-Jen Poo organized the National Domestic Workers Alliance to boost resources and social support for domestic workers & caregivers.

In academia, female professors are expected to shoulder the care burden of their families — whereas male professors tend to be given the benefit of an assumption that their wives will automatically handle such matters. Although tenure extensions exist for academics raising children — in practice, women tend to use that extra time to devote energy to their kids’ needs (whereas men use it to focus on career-related tasks). Misty emphasizes how these are the effects of gendered expectations.

But Misty also points to signs of hope. For example, Simone Biles endured criticism for leaving the 2020 Olympic Team in order to take time for herself. Simone ignored her haters…and the payoff manifested when she thrived at the 2024 Olympics due to that much-needed rest and self-care. Misty concludes that women uniting and working together will create even better things for future generations of girls. Also, when we call out the disparities in care privilege (e.g., the need to subsidize childcare) — a net-benefit for society will be raising better-quality citizens.

Conclusion — entitled “Is It Over Now?,” the author praises Kamala Harris for moving mountains, despite Kamala’s loss in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Misty believes it will only be a matter of time before America elects its first woman to the presidency — and that time will arrive probably sooner than most people assume.

She expands upon many of the beneficial measures brainstormed within the “Marshall Plan for Moms.” She repeats the essentiality of abortion & birth control as widely-available resources for women. Misty lauds the women whom she’s profiled in Swiftynomics for reinventing and redefining “the rules” — mirroring how Taylor has embodied this trait…and, regardless of her touring schedule (or lack thereof), Taylor will most likely will continue to do so, in the future.

Afterward — entitled “Timeless,” Misty describes more of the powerful women who’ve had an impact on her throughout her life — from both her immediate & extended families.

Despite the fact that I’m unfamiliar with most of Taylor Swift’s music, I was able to enjoy this book based on its enriching content. I felt a commonality with the author, as we are both survivors of sexual assault and we’re within 5–6 years of each other in age — Misty being a GenXer, whereas I’m on the cusp between Gen X and Gen Y (“Xennials”).

Swiftynomics allows us to go on journeys with an incredible diversity of forward-thinking women whom Misty has featured. She speaks with authority, having extensively studied Taylor’s career. Skillfully, she draws parallels between Taylor’s triumphs and the achievements of other public figures (or even lesser-known American leaders).

I did have some nitpicks with the book — such as the problematic asymmetry of “Lowercase-white” alongside of “Capital-Black” beginning in Chapter Two (although, often times, this can be a standard practice suggested by a publisher or editor rather than the author themselves). In Chapter Four, I disagreed with Misty’s idealization of a year-round school calendar — but I definitely agree with her on the prioritization of caregiver pay, childcare, free healthy meals, universal paid leave, and parental leave. When she discussed the jettisoning of Build Back Better, I felt she let Krysten Sinema off the hook by implicitly placing most of the onus on Joe Manchin…this could have been a teachable opportunity to illustrate how women (i.e., Kyrsten) sometimes hinder the best interests of other women.

Amidst Chapter Five’s gallery of famous women who’ve rewritten the playbook for success, Misty defines Dolly Parton as a “Baby Boomer” based on the U.S. Census definition. Yet, Dolly was born in 1946 — which is really smack in the middle of a cusp comprising the grey area that bridges together the youngest Traditionalists (aka “The Silent Generation”) with the eldest Baby Boomers.

In Chapter Six, I would have preferred a couple of paragraphs delineating the contrast between “leaning in” and “leaning out” (maybe introducing the expanded descriptions of each). There also wasn’t enough discussion of how gender equity would actually be implemented, in practice. Granted, later, in Chapter Eight, Misty does follow up on the equity discussion by referencing examples of both the Kansas City Current Stadium (CPKC) for women’s sports as well as the potential forfeiture of paternity leave when male employees fail to utilize it (with the goal being to encourage proactive fatherhood). But equity is one of those topics that warrants much more nuanced and multilayered content. Perhaps Misty will be given the chance to structure an entire future book around this topic?

Finally, although I absolutely concur with Misty that the “Marshall Plan for Moms” brought greater visibility to the problem of gender disparity — she appears to endorse it in its entirety without any discourse on logistics or constitutionality. I’m in favor of Misty’s proposed solutions (inspired by Reshma) such as universal statistical databases, flex days, telework, universal childcare, work reentry, and universal paid leave (including paternity leave). But a child-credit stipend designed specifically for moms runs the risk of excluding or disenfranchising transgender parents, nonbinary parents, widowed dads, grandparents, aunties, foster parents, and other primary guardians who don’t fall into the neat little box of being White cisgender biological mothers.

The good news is that we’ll hopefully be getting additional books from Misty where she can dive even deeper into more of these issues…whether it’s an illustration of developing equitable policies, how a “Marshall Plan for Moms” could pass the constitutional muster, or other subject matters that were only touched upon in Swiftynomics.

Overall, Misty does a swift (pun intended!) and elegant job of bringing to life how tenacity can pay off when innovators refuse to give up. She outlines a strong set of clear goals — constantly reinforcing them by painting a vivid portrait of what a better world could resemble.

By unveiling the feats of formidable women who’ve been visionaries for prosperity, Misty Heggeness rallies Americans to reach for higher and brighter outcomes. She exemplifies how aspirations — which were, at one time, considered an impossible dream for American women — can be realized through solidarity and vigor.

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