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Economics humor has a new home: the Miscellany section of Economic Inquiry! As the Specialized Co-Editor for Miscellany, I am delighted to put out this request for submissions that expose the lighter side of the dismal science:

  • Humorous articles, such as Leijonhufvud's "Life among the Econ", (Economic Inquiry, 1973); Gregor W. Smith's "Japan's Phillips Curve looks like Japan" (Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, forthcoming); or my own "Principles of economics, translated", which is available in text format (Annals of Improbable Research, 2003) or on YouTube. Here's a stab at a compendium of economics humor (please send me additions!), and note some of these articles (and many others) can be found in Clotfelter's On the Third Hand.
  • News headlines, real or imagined, such as a 2004 CNN.com article that was originally headlined "Iraqis polled: War did more harm than good but worth it."
  • Original economics jokes, such as "You might be an economist if..." Please don't send me "assume a can-opener" or other jokes that are online, e.g., on JokEc.
  • Cartoons, anecdotes, and other funny stuff. I'll even consider amusing excerpts from rejection letters, such as the 2003 referee report by a reviewer who failed to notice that the 20th century was over.
  • Instructions for submissions: If you have a joke or cartoon or other short piece, email it (with a subject line of "Economics miscellany") to me at yoram@standupeconomist.com. If you have a multi-page "serious" submission, send it through the usual process, beginning with a careful read of the Submission Information. (Make sure to write on your paper that it is intended for the Miscellany section, and yes you will have to pay the submission fee.) If you are not sure whether your paper is "serious" or not, email it to me and ask me.
  • Humor session at the WEAI meeting (Waikiki, summer 2008)??? The AEA may not have a good sense of humor---they've rejected multiple proposals for a humor session---but the Western Economic Association (through Economic Inquiry's new editor, Preston McAfee) has expressed support for a possible humor session at the WEAI annual meeting coming up June 29 - July 3, 2008, at the Sheraton Waikiki. Anyone interested in presenting should email me.

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Funny economics articles

Please send me additions (I'm just starting this compendium), and please note that some of these articles (and many others) can be found in Clotfelter's On the Third Hand.



You might be an economist if...

  • ...you refuse to sell your children because you think they'll be worth more later.
  • ...you've ever gone to a bank or other financial institution in the hopes of getting a date.
  • ...you're an expert on money but you dress like a flood victim (from an old Dilbert, I think)
  • ...you watch "America's Next Top Model" and vote for Cournot. (Ken Heyer, U.S. Dept. of Justice Anti-Trust Divison)
  • ...you can translate plain English into incomprehensible gibberish.
  • ...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's doctoral dissertation.)
  • ...you think the best evidence of global warming is not that every year the snows melt earlier or that every year the flowers bloom earlier but that every year the Christmas shopping season starts earlier.
  • ...taxes piss you off because they're so inefficient.
  • ...you read your fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant and put "at the margin" at the end of it. (If you don't understand this one and can't find an under-30 American to ask about it, just think to yourself: "It's about computers.")
  • ...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've spent your whole career at a university or other public sector job talking about how great the private sector is.
  • ...you can't give blood because your veins are full of motor oil and little bits of endangered species.
  • ...you've ever written a romance novel that included the following paragraph: "I put my left hand on her shoulder. I put my right hand on the small of her back. I put my invisible hand on her thigh."
  • ... you never tip the waitress more than 6.45% because you have a precise understanding of just how our economy can suffer a burst of inflation is she went out to buy new shoes. (Terence Kelley, Nebraska)
  • ...you think trust is so bad that you're anti-trust.
  • ...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.)
  • ...you go to the hospital at 12:15 a.m. and your son is born at 12:57 a.m. so you don't have to pay for a day of labor.(Noreen Templin, Wichita State Univ.)
  • ...you're opposed to the death penalty because it's too expensive.
  • ...someone tells you that economics is like a foreign language to them and you respond by speaking slower and raising your voice.



The "assume a can opener" joke (from JokEc)

A physicist, a chemist and an economist are stranded on an island, with nothing to eat. A can of soup washes ashore. The physicist says, "Lets smash the can open with a rock." The chemist says, "Lets build a fire and heat the can first." The economist says, "Lets assume that we have a can-opener..."

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