A damp and dreary London morning (well, it is the height of summer) has been cheered by reading an advance copy of the [amazon_link id=”0809033615″ target=”_blank” ]second, macroeconomics, volume of The Cartoon Introduction to Economics [/amazon_link]by Grady Klein and Yoram Bauman. The book will be published in January in time for stand-up economist Bauman to take part in the now-traditional humour session at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association. Let it not be said that economists don’t know how to have a good time. In fact, there are several websites of jokes about economics (eg this and this), although it must be said that most of the jokes were around when I was a student a Very Long Time Ago. More recently, the Hayek-Keynes raps are incredibly witty and give a fantastically clear idea of the issues at debate, with the lightest of touches.
[amazon_link id=”0809094819″ target=”_blank” ]Volume 1[/amazon_link] of the Cartoon Introduction covered microeconomics. Both books similarly serve as a very good, deft introduction to the subject, suitable for pupils/students and also partners who from time to time wonder what it is you actually do as an economist. Besides, illustrator Grady Klein has a thing about bears and I love them.
[amazon_image id=”0809033615″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Cartoon Intro to Economics: Vol 2: Volume Two: Macroeconomics[/amazon_image]
Having read economics and finance for more than 10 years now, I have to admit that much of what I read, I find funny. I’m sure part of this is just that I have a warped sense of humour, but I’m convinced that a number of academics, not to mention a few journalists from the FT, Bloomberg and a few others have a very dry, not to say ironic/sardonic form of wit. I was reading the Bloomberg report on the real $1.2Tn bailout of the financial system by the fed and laughing my arse off. I’m sure they were doing that on purpose.
Great blog btw.