I’m away for a bit this week – and last time I was out of signal, I posted a little something about cows. So in that tradition, while I was prepping posts for my time away, I did a little googling to find something similar.

And on economicshelp.org, I found the lightbulb insights into economic thought. So here goes:

Q: How many free market economists does it take to change a light bulb?

A1: None. The darkness will cause the light bulb to change by itself.

A2: None. If it really needed changing, market forces would have caused it to happen.

A3: None. If the government would just leave it alone, it would screw itself in.

A4. None. There is no need to change the light bulb. All the conditions for illumination are in place.

~~

Q; How many central bank economists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A1: Just one – he holds the lightbulb and the whole earth revolves around him. Economists do it with models.

A2: This is the wrong question. The Central Bank economist’s objective is to provide light, not screw in lightbulbs. So they light fires. Which, admittedly, has had bad outcomes for other central bank economists in the past – but this time is different. And they have this glass of interest rate water right here just in case.

~~

Q: How many Keynesian economists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A1: None. They hire an electrician to do it. And ask “future me” to pay him.