It’s funny because it’s true …
I suspect this is part of the reason why none of the economists I know play board games together …
Source SMBC.
It is true though, if you ever come out for drinks with us this is how we talk … hell, that is even how I plan on dressing in a few years time 😉
Update: Eric Crampton points out another way of interpreting the comic:
Wait…maybe the comic means that there’s optimally a separating equilibrium. The all-economist games that are fun, and the non-economist games that would be far far less so….
I have to admit, if I was the little kid in this situation I would find the ranting about economics entertaining rather than scary – so Eric’s explanation makes sense to me. When I was a little kid I liked to be the banker outside of the actual Monopoly game and have loans in the game, which would involve negotiating over interest rates – I thought it was brilliant but no-one else did …
Economists and values
Another great comic from SMBC:
To (as usual) kill the fun a bit, I would note that the Economist is explicitly placing value on life in order to understand trade-offs. The “normal person” is still placing an implicit value on life when they discuss the policy – they just don’t want to say it. This implies that the “normal person” is hiding the trade-off, making any policy recommendation they make less transparent.
Solving the prisoner’s dilemma
Saturday morning breakfast ceral has an excellent comic regarding the prisoner’s dilemma. Of course, I was bound to appreciate it given my view that Jesus was an early applied economist.
One perspective on mining conservation land
It appears that a great debate is forming around the opening up of conservation land. As always, I am neutral, I would have to look at it on a case by case basis. I trust property rights to keep things rolling along effectively, unless there is a significant social benefit associated with the non-mining of some specific land.
Anyway, given my willingness to open up the forum to debate, I think that this image sums up the anti-mining case quite succinctly:
Nom nom nom
Discuss.
