My Economics Jokes
I have a small collection of economics jokes, not jokes about economics but jokes that teach economics. Here are all of them:
1. Two economists walked past a Porsche showroom with an elegant sports car visible through the window:
First Economist: "I really want that car."
Second Economist: "Obviously not."
2. An economist and a businessman were walking in the wood when they encountered a large and hungry bear. The economist turned to run.
Businessman: "You don't think you can outrun a bear, do you?"
Economist: "No. But I might be able to outrun you."
(Contributed by Dennis Hanseman, editor of my Price Theory)
3. What is sweeter than honey?
Free vinegar.
(From a Middle Eastern cookbook by Claudia Roden)
4. An economics professor is in a car driven by one of his students; she asks him to put on his seat belt.
"Why do you want me to put on my seat belt?"
"To make it less likely that you will be injured in an accident."
"Then why don't you take yours off?"
(From Allen Sanderson)
5. The director of the Moscow zoo noticed that one of the elephants was coughing. So he decided to add vodka, the universal cure, to this elephant's bucket of water. The next morning that elephant was completely healthy but the other three elephants began to cough.
(Russian joke, contributed by Anna Krupitsky)
Jose had robbed a bank in Texas and fled south across the Rio Grande with the Texas Rangers in hot pursuit. They caught up with him in a town in Old Mexico, only to discover that Jose spoke no English and none of the pursuers spoke any Spanish. They drafted the local school teacher as a translator.
“Tell Jose that he must tell us where he has hidden the loot from the bank robbery.”
“The gringos say to ask where you have hidden the loot.”
“Tell the gringos I will never tell them.”
“Jose says he will never tell you.”
The Rangers pull out their six-guns, cock them, and point them at Jose.
“Tell Jose if he does not tell us where he has hidden the loot, we will kill him.”
“The gringos say if you do not tell them where you have hidden the loot they will kill you.”
Jose begins to tremble with fear.
“I buried it by the old oak tree on the other side of the bridge.”
“Jose says he is not afraid to die.”
(my favorite—I don't remember where I got it)
Explanations are left as an exercise for the reader, contributions to my collection rewarded with gratitude
Past posts, sorted by topic
My web page, with the full text of multiple books and articles and much else
A search bar for text in past posts and much of my other writing
A man goes shopping for bread. The first store he goes to is selling for $3 a loaf, but is all out. So he goes to the next store, which is selling for $4 a loaf, but they're also out. The third store does have loaves in stock, but is selling for $10 a loaf.
The man goes up to the counter and tells the owner, "Why're you charging $10? That's outrageous! The other stores are charging $3 or $4!"
The owner asks, "Well why didn't you buy from them?"
He answers, "Well, they were out of stock."
The owner replies, "I'll tell you what. Just for you, I'll lower my price to $2 once I'm out of stock!"
I've always liked this one:
Two economists are walking down the street. One pauses, staring down, and say, "That's a fifty dollar bill!" The other one says, "Don't be silly. If there were a fifty dollar bill on the sidewalk someone would have picked it up." The first one says, "Oh, of course, you're right," and they walk on.
I'm not sure if this *teaches* economics but it teaches something related to economics. Perhaps that you should not assume economic equilibrium in a dynamic situation?