I read this joke in the newspaper today. It was related by Ha-Joon, the philosopher who just published "23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism" (which I've not yet read, but plan to quite soon) and cleverly encapsulates my own view of economists...
Three castaways on a desert island find a crate of canned food. The first, a theoretical physicist, comes up with a model of a machine that can open cans with astonishing efficiency, then realises there is no material to build the machine. The second, an engineer, tries to open the cans with everything available – stone, stick, coconut – but all in vain. The last one, an economist, steps in and starts: "Let's assume that we have a can opener..."
|
