A classical joke of economics

A classical joke of economics
May 5, 2007 21:14
CAOJUAN157 Points: Join Date: Mar 13, 2007 Status: offline	Have you ever heard of this joke? Two economists A and B are classmates. They are both reputable and wealthy, but they do not give in to each other. One day, they took a walk together. Seeing a pile of cattle dung on the roadside, A said to B， “Dare you eat it, I will give you 50 million dollars.” Hearing this, B was irritated at first. But soon he calmed down to evaluate this deal by using his knowledge of economics. After a careful consideration, B decided to eat it and A had to pay 50 million dollars to him. Later, they encountered another pile of cattle dung. Having eaten a pile of dung, B felt it was unbalanced if A did not eat it. So B retorted, “Dare you eat it, I will also give you 50 million!” After doing some calculation, A ate it and B paid the money to him. Finally, they both felt regretful after they found that actually they had gained nothing but only eating two piles of cattle dung. With this puzzlement, they asked their tutor, “Why did we gain nothing from the economic activity under elaborate calculation?” To their surprise, their tutor was rather excited and even burst into tears on hearing this. A and B were more puzzled before their tutor told them in great excitement, “Well done! You two have just earned 100 million dollars GDP for our country by eating two piles of cattle dung!”

May 5, 2007 21:14

CAOJUAN157
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Join Date: Mar 13, 2007
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Have you ever heard of this joke?
Two economists A and B are classmates. They are both reputable and wealthy, but they do not give in to each other. One day, they took a walk together. Seeing a pile of cattle dung on the roadside, A said to B， “Dare you eat it, I will give you 50 million dollars.” Hearing this, B was irritated at first. But soon he calmed down to evaluate this deal by using his knowledge of economics. After a careful consideration, B decided to eat it and A had to pay 50 million dollars to him. Later, they encountered another pile of cattle dung. Having eaten a pile of dung, B felt it was unbalanced if A did not eat it. So B retorted, “Dare you eat it, I will also give you 50 million!” After doing some calculation, A ate it and B paid the money to him. Finally, they both felt regretful after they found that actually they had gained nothing but only eating two piles of cattle dung.
With this puzzlement, they asked their tutor, “Why did we gain nothing from the economic activity under elaborate calculation?” To their surprise, their tutor was rather excited and even burst into tears on hearing this. A and B were more puzzled before their tutor told them in great excitement, “Well done! You two have just earned 100 million dollars GDP for our country by eating two piles of cattle dung!”

May 6, 2007 20:23	#1
CAOJUAN157 Points: Join Date: Mar 13, 2007 Status: Offline	Is it a laughable joke? Or I can see a bevy of crows flying by.

May 6, 2007 22:36	#2
MAY001 Points: Join Date: Sep 28, 2005 Status: Offline	Conclusion: Never trust economists!

May 8, 2007 03:56	#3
CAOJUAN157 Points: Join Date: Mar 13, 2007 Status: Offline	Haha, they are all liars and cheats.

May 8, 2007 05:21	#4
SANYACHINA Points: Join Date: Mar 26, 2007 Status: Offline	No, they are not. The problem is just that the economy is not a developed science. Some people still think that it is not a science at all.

May 8, 2007 20:39	#5
CAOJUAN157 Points: Join Date: Mar 13, 2007 Status: Offline	Indeed. Economy belongs to the social science but it is a newly developing subject.

May 11, 2007 09:35	#6
APAULT Points: Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Status: Offline	That is what we call creative accounting! There was a supply but no real demand so the price should have been at or near zero. Even so, neither was buying, the money was being given away. Don't be unkind about economists...better than being a real estate agent or a used car salesman! haha

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