Question and Answer
An economist is a trained professional paid to guess wrong about the economy. An econometrician is a trained professional paid to use computers to guess wrong about the economy.Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds Demand. ——————————————————————————–Bentley’s second Law of Economics: The only thing more dangerous than an economist is an amateur economist! ——————————————————————————–Berta’s Fundamental Law of Economic Rents.. “The only thing more dangerous than an amateur economist is a professional economist.” ——————————————————————————–Definition: Policy Analyst is someone unethical enough to be a lawyer, impractical enough to be a theologian, and pedantic enough to be an economist. ——————————————————————————–Three econometricians went out hunting, and came across a large deer. The first econometrician fired, but missed, by a meter to the left. The second econometrician fired, but also missed, by a meter to the right. The third econometrician didn’t fire, but shouted in triumph, “We got it! We got it!” ——————————————————————————–Q: How has French revolution affected world economic growth?A: Too early to say.——————————————————————————–Q: What do economists and computers have in common?A: You need to punch information into both of them.——————————————————————————–Q: Why does Treasury only have 10 minutes for morning tea?A: If they had any longer, they would need to re-train all the economists.——————————————————————————–Q: Did you hear of the economist who dove into his swimming pool and broke his neck? A: He forgot to seasonally adjust his pool. ——————————————————————————–NATURAL RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT: Newlan’s Truism: An “acceptable” level of unemployment means that the government economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job. ——————————————————————————–Q: Why did the market economist cross the road? A: To reach the consensus forecast. ——————————————————————————–Q: What does an economist use when calculating constant-dollar estimates? A: Deflator mouse ——————————————————————————–Q: How many Chicago School economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. If the light bulb needed changing the market would have already done it. ——————————————————————————–Q: How many mainstream economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Two. One to assume the existence of ladder and one to change the bulb. ——————————————————————————–Q: How many neo-classical economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: It depends on the wage rate. ——————————————————————————–Q: How many conservative economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. The darkness will cause the light bulb to change by itself. ——————————————————————————–Q: How many B-school doctoral students does it take to change a light bulb? A: I’m writing my dissertation on that topic; I should have an answer for you in about five years.——————————————————————————–Q: How many investors does it take to change a light bulb? A: None – the market has already discounted the change. ——————————————————————————–Q: How many Keynesian economists does it takes to change a light bulb? A: All. Because then you will generate employment, more consumption, dislocating the aggregate demand to the right.——————————————————————————–Q: How many marxists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: None – the bulb contains within it the seeds of its own revolution. ——————————————————————————–When drawing up the guest list for a dinner party, inviting more than 25% economists ruins the conversation. ——————————————————————————–Economics is the painful elaboration of the obvious.——————————————————————————–Q: How many economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Seven plus or minus ten.——————————————————————————–Q: How many economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Irrelevant – the light bulb’s preferences are to be taken as given. ——————————————————————————–Q: What’s the difference between an economist and a befuddled old man with Alzheimer’s? A: The economist is the one with the calculator. ——————————————————————————– Read the rest of this entry »