It’s the economists stupid!
Posted by on Oct 10, 2012
I thought that the video below (Principles of Economics – Translated) by Yoram Bauman was quite funny; so I visited his website and found You might be an economist if, a selection of ‘in jokes‘ for economists. I have selected the following and added some links so that I could ‘get the joke‘. Economists would seem to be like politicians – well like the rest of us really – always able to rationalise a failed foresight with beneficial hindsight (listen to what Yoram Bauman says about macro-economists). To be fair to the economists, in the following one liners they are making fun of themselves. If you click on any of the links – you really might be an economist if:
- …your idea of a romantic evening is cuddling up with your honey and a bowl of popcorn to watch “A Beautiful Mind,” then engaging in hot and heavy discourse about why the bar scene solution is not a pure strategy Nash equilibrium. (Elaina Rose, University of Washington)
- …if your first association for Chicken Alfredo is Vilfredo Pareto. (Pavel Yakovlev, Duquesne University)
- …if your wedding proposal includes an estimation of expected present value, or if your wedding vows include a discussion of gains from trade. (Justin Cress, Univ of Kentucky)
- …you think every episode of Law and Order could be resolved with the Prisoners’ Dilemma. (Adapted from anonymous)
- …you don’t believe there is a Free Lunch but you do believe in Free Trade. (Ken Heyer, U.S. Dept. of Justice Anti-Trust Divison)
[For a transcript see Principles of Economics]
- … you refer to a large job you sent to the printer as increasing the demand, and thus the equilibrium quantity, of trees. (David Tabak, NERA)
- …you’re an expert on money but you dress like a flood victim (adapted from this Dilbert cartoon from Sept 1, 1994)
- …you watch “America’s Next Top Model” and vote for Cournot. (Ken Heyer, U.S. Dept. of Justice Anti-Trust Divison)
- …you think that “supply and demand” is a good answer to the question, “Where do babies come from?”
- …you plan to have your children born in December instead of January in order to maximize the discounted present value of the child tax credit.
- …you understood that last joke. (Bonus points if you can cite Stacy Dickert-Conlin and Amitabh Chandra, 1999, “Taxes and the Timing of Births”, JPE 107:161-77, or similar work from fellow UW grad JT Huang’sdoctoral dissertation.)
- …you read your fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant and put “at the margin” at the end of it.
- …any of the following phrases has ever come to mind in a romantic situation: “joint utility maximization”, “not tonight, honey, I have an externality”, “diminishing marginal product of labor”.
- …you have tried to convince your friends that “getting your money’s worth” doesn’t apply at all-you-can-eat buffets because it is a sunk cost. (Noreen Templin, Wichita State Univ.)
- …you have told your husband not to tailgate the slow old lady on the freeway because then he is making an interpersonal utility comparison.(Noreen Templin, Wichita State Univ.)
