Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
It's about time. Economics lies at the crossroads of bad math, bad science, and bad history.
Around 1999, I read what was the common wisdom among economists at the time -- that "the effects of the information revolution can be seen everywhere, except in the productivity statistics." It was the sort of bon mot that would get economists nodding their big woolly heads, and thinking mockingly about all the silly little people who think computers make a difference.
The problem is, only an economist could read that statement -- that "the effects of the information revolution can be seen everywhere, except in the productivity statistics" -- and come to a conclusion other than "wow, the productivity statistics must be really fucked up."
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Which leaves me yet another opening to tell my favorite economist joke:
Three people are stranded on a desert island. One is a physicist, one is a chemist, and one is an economist. They have no food or drinkable water except for cases of canned tuna fish. But they have no can-opener with which to open the cans.
The physicist says, "I have an idea. Let's climb this cliff and drop a can onto the rocks below." The physicist tries the experiment. A can did explode on impact, but the tuna fish sprays in all directions leaving nothing edible from the can.
The chemist says: "I have an idea. Let's soak a can in the ocean water and see if the salts and minerals in the seawater will pore a hole into the can." The chemist drops a can into a pool of seawater, but nothing happens.
The physicist and the chemist are depressed. But the economist triumphantly pronounces: "I have the answer! Let's assume that we have a can-opener!"
