Steven Horwitz
Attention undergraduates: Here is an opportunity for you to get published. Take a look at today's Doonesbury as it's chock full of bad economics. I would like to have a contest to see which undergraduate can produce the best response to that comic pointing out those fallacies without defending Romney. The winner (if one is good enough) will see his or her response appear as this week's Freeman column with me as co-author. You will also get $50. It should be between 500 and 750 words and accessible to a broad audience. Send your entries to me at [email protected], subject: Doonesbury. *DEADLINE is 3:00pm EDT on Tuesday*. UNDERGRADUATES ONLY please.
Yes, I'm totally serious.
Suggestion: watch the movie Other People's Money for ideas.
Posted by: Geo | June 24, 2012 at 11:27 PM
How about this:
The president doesnt really create or destroy jobs, he is just a politician.
Posted by: Mofo. | June 25, 2012 at 09:54 AM
Here's my economic puzzler.
Price theory tells us a product with zero demand should not be produced.
No one has read Doonesbury since the 1970s, yet the thing is still produced.
Explain.
Posted by: Greg Ransom | June 25, 2012 at 01:14 PM
Greg, the problem is that many people DO read Doonesbury, and those people (I believe) see themselves as sophisticates, and the rest of us as neanderthals. Trudeau (the cartoonist) is a darling of the elite left, so he does not have zero demand. On the contrary; the problem I see with Horwitz's idea is that it will only reach a very limited audience, all of which are (like me) members of the choir. Unfortunately, it is sound economic ideas that have (relatively) little demand. You need to appeal to the self-regarding sophisticates by creating a cartoon (or a video skit) that refutes Doonesbury and that is genuinely funny. Maybe the undergraduates can team up with other creative types to start fighting fire with fire.
Posted by: Couts Anderson Moseley | June 25, 2012 at 04:00 PM
When will the winner be chosen?
Posted by: Will | June 28, 2012 at 02:08 AM