English novelist, born 250 years ago in December 1775, author of "Pride and Prejudice" and other literary classics. She now appears on Britain's ten-pound note.
Her father was a clergyman who upheld the values of the landed gentry without holding the assets. Her third of six brothers, Edward, was adopted by rich relatives, the owners of Godmersham Park. On visits to those surroundings, Austen would "drink French wine & be above Vulgar Economy" but could not afford to tip the servants properly and paid half-price for haircuts. She refused an offer of marriage in 1802 from Harris Bigg-Wither, young heir to Manydown, a large Hampshire estate. She died in July 1817, aged 41.
Over her lifetime she earned about 631 pounds from her writing, according to biographer Jan Fergus. Maria Edgeworth, a novelist she admired, earned 11,062 pounds over a longer career. Fanny Burney, another inspiration, made about 4,280 pounds from four novels.
She published "Sense and Sensibility" at her own expense in 1811, then sold the copyright of "Pride and Prejudice" for 110 pounds -- missing out on the rewards from its surprise success. In 1815 she turned down 450 pounds for the combined copyright to "Emma", "Mansfield Park" and "Sense and Sensibility".
Austen's novels reveal "so frankly and with such sobriety / The economic basis of society", as W.H. Auden noted in shocked admiration. She rarely introduces a major character without enumerating their finances. Before her, fictional heroines' incomes had been "large, vague, and all encompassing"; Austen was quantitatively precise.
In "Sense and Sensibility" and "Persuasion", the story begins with an economic setback. "Mansfield Park" is structured like a natural economic experiment: three sisters marry into high, middling and low stations.
In her era, 100 pounds a year was required to afford a single maidservant. Roughly 700-1,000 pounds was needed to keep a carriage. The 2,000 pounds eventually secured by Marianne Dashwood through marriage to Colonel Brandon would cover "a proper establishment of servants, a carriage, perhaps two".
Fanny Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility" anticipates Milton Friedman's permanent income hypothesis of 1957 and a 1998 argument by Tomas Philipson and Gary Becker about mandatory annuities leading to "excessive longevity" -- some 180 years early.
Austen's final, unfinished novel features Mr Parker, a sympathetic capitalist and "Enthusiast" for a spa-resort scheme in a fictional coastal town. Lady Denham, the voice of financial restraint, is described as thoroughly mean. Mr Parker offers a lesson in the circular flow of income to counter her objections.
A turquoise ring once belonging to Austen was sold at auction in 2012 for 152,450 pounds to singer Kelly Clarkson. Britain declared it a national treasure and delayed its export until Jane Austen's House museum in Chawton, Hampshire, could raise the money to buy it.
Fundamentally, there may be no basis for anything.