Stand-Up Economist

“An economist who teaches at the University of Washington
and performs stand-up comedy” (New York Times)

Yoram Bauman, The Stand-Up Economist

Yes I really do have a Ph.D. in economics (University of Washington, 2003, here’s my CV), and of course I went to Reed College. I currently live in Seattle with my wife Laura. Some FAQs are below… enjoy!

PS. If you’re here on business—i.e., you want to hire me—here are links to my comedy bio, some hi-res photos and a poster template (PPT), my technical requirements, some testimonials from past shows, and stories about me in print/radio/TV.

FAQ #1: What are your goals in life?

To spread joy to the world through economics comedy; to reform economics education; and to implement carbon pricing, preferably through a revenue-neutral tax shift involving lower taxes on things we like (working, saving, investing) and higher taxes on things we don’t like (e.g., carbon).

FAQ #2: And… how’s all that working out for you?

Well, there’s a fabulous carbon tax in British Columbia, which I’m proud to have had a small role in creating and which I’m trying to spread to Washington State and elsewhere. I also cover carbon pricing in my economics cartoon books, which are the opening salvo in my efforts to reform economics education. As for economics comedy, performing at colleges, corporate events, and comedy clubs takes up much of my time; I am also the Specialized Co-Editor for Miscellany of Economic Inquiry, and every year I organize the Humor Session at the American Economic Association annual meeting.

FAQ #3: Is this your job job?

Yes… mostly. But I also do some teaching and research, notably as an environmental economist with the University of Washington’s Program on the Environment. I’ve also taught part-time at Lakeside High School and at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, and in summer and fall 2011 I had a visiting research position working on climate change economics at UIBE in Beijing.

FAQ #4: How can I get a hold of you or suggest another FAQ?

Email me or fill out my contact form. I’d love to hear from you!

FAQ #5: How did you start doing comedy?

In graduate school I blew off some steam by writing a parody of the “ten principles of economics” in Greg Mankiw’s best-selling textbook, and in 2003 my parody got published in a science humor journal called the Annals of Improbable Research. They run a humor session every year at the AAAS annual meeting, and in 2004 it happened to be in Seattle so they invited me to present my paper. I had so much fun I started going to open-mic nights at the Comedy Underground, and the rest is history.

FAQ #6: Are you really “the world’s first and only stand-up economist”?

Yes, it even says so on the internet! Among those who may take issue with this claim are Louis Ashamallah, Merle Hazard, “socialist magician” Ian Saville; the BBC’s Evan Davis; Robert Mundell, Columbia, who won the Nobel Prize and appears regularly on Dave Letterman; Victor Fuchs, Stanford (pic); William Breit, Trinity; Peter Orazem, Iowa State; Ben Stein (“cited by Akerlof”); Tim Harford, “Dear Economist” author for the Financial Times; Steven Tomlinson, UT Austin; Ariel Rubinstein, Tel Aviv University; David Powell, Boston Comedy Festival finalist and MIT grad student; Paul Solman, PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; Shaun Eli, a comic who graduated from the Wharton School; Steve Zanetti of Freeman H.S. (Richmond VA); and James Kurre of Penn State Erie. Apologies to all, and email me if you belong on this list.

FAQ #7: Anything else to apologize for?

My video “Principles of Economics, Translated” contains two unattributed quotes: “9 out of 5″ is adapted from a line attributed to Paul Samuelson — he said it about Wall Street indices, not macroeconomists — and “wrong about things” is paraphrased from P.J. O’Rourke’s Eat the Rich. And, of course, the Einstein “simple” quote is an intentional misquote. Oh, and one of my jokes (“You might be a macroeconomist if you’re an expert on money but you dress like a flood victim”) is adapted from an old Dilbert cartoon I saw in grad school.

FAQ #8: Stand-up comics and economists all seem to be depressed or otherwise troubled. Are you?

Nope! I do, however, suffer from faceblindness (at least according to my self-diagnosis) , so if you say hello and I give you that puzzled look then please give me a clue. PS. If you’re a journalist and you’re determined to write a depressed-comic-economist story then you can point out that I’m depressed about how we’re not doing enough about climate change; also, you can write that my mother was bipolar and took her own life. (I try not to hide that because mental illnesses are hidden too much in our world and they shouldn’t be.) Having said that, though, I should emphasize that I generally feel like I lead a charmed life.