A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job.
The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks "What do two plus two equal?" The
mathemetician replies "Four." The interviewer asks "Four, exactly?" The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says "Yes, four, exactly."
Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question "What do two plus two equal?" The accountant says "On average, four - give or take ten percent, but on average, four."
Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question "What do two plus two equal?" The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, sits down next to the interviewer and says "What do you want it to equal?"
Three econometricians went out hunting, and came across a large deer. The first econometrician fired, but missed, by a metre to the left. The second econometrician fired, but also missed, by a metre to the right. The third econometrician didn't fire, but shouted in triumph, "We got it! We got it!"
Economists have forecasted 9 out of the last 5 recessions.
We all know what pareto optimal allocation means... What about Jesus-optimal allocation -- when all persons are equally well off, and one person _really_ gets it bad, worse off, while all the rest are much better off...
If an economist and an IRS agent were both drowning and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?
How many economists does it take to change a lightbulb?
1) None. Eventually market forces will cause it to change
2) None. The invisible hand does it.
3) Two. One to assume the ladder and one to change the lightbulb.
4) Two. One to assume the latter (a pun)
5) Three. A Neo-Keynesian economist to search for micro-foundations, a New Classical economist to build the micro-foundations, and a Monetarist to ignore them and use a ladder to reach the lightbulb instead.
6) Eight. One to screw it in and seven to hold everything else constant.
Two economists meet on the street. One inquires, "How's your wife?" The other responds, "Relative to what?"
On the first day God created the sun - so the Devil countered and created sunburn. On the second day God created sex. In response the Devil created marriage. On the third day God created an economist. This was a tough one for the Devil, but in the end and after a lot of thought he created a second economist!
An economist returns to visit his old school. He's interested in the current exam questions and asks his old professor to show some. To his surprice they are exactly the same ones to which he had answered 10 years ago! When he asks about this the professor answers: "the questions are always the same - only the answers change!"
For more lightbulb jokes go here.