Right living, wise spending: Ellen Richards’s progressive art of budgeting

David Philippy

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2025, vol. 32, issue 5, 688-711

Abstract: This article examines the progressive aspects of home economics’ approach to consumption, focusing on budgeting. It highlights how Ellen Richards framed the study of consumption as a progressive response to the changing role of women at the turn of the century. I argue that Richards’s concept of suggested budgets framed the choice problem to guide women in the emerging modern consumerism and encapsulates the essence of her progressive agenda. This educational approach emphasized a dual sense of control, and can be appreciated as a distinctive feature of home economists’ progressivism, contrasting with the prevalent trend of reformism centered on regulation.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2025.2509525

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