Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-11T14:02:30.182Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Danger - Economists at Work: The joke that can damage your children's welfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Extract

I must admit at the outset that I only studied economics for a year. At the end of the undergraduate year, I sat an exam on the subject and passed. It was, as I recall it, a close-run thing however.

A number of us had already provoked the exam adjudicators by turning up late. Students were allowed into the exam hall up to twenty minutes after the exams had started, and this being the late 1960s, it was very cool to affect nonchalance by entering ten minutes or so late after everyone else had settled down. Such a late arrival not only gave the required appearance of casual unconcern, but also caused considerable disruption, especially if the latecomer was seated in the middle of a row of scibblers. Working one's way down the line of desks, loudly muttering ‘Excuse me’, ‘So sorry’, ‘Excuse me’, and so on was guaranteed to arouse the ire of diligent student and conscientious adjudicator alike.

Type
Not the last word: Point and Counterpoint
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barry, B. (1988) ‘The Continuing Relevance of Socialism’ in Skidelsky, R. (ed.) Thatcherism. London: Chatto and Windus, 142158.Google Scholar
Brett, J. (1993) ‘What happened to moral purpose?The Age 27 February 1993.Google Scholar
Brett, J. (1993) ‘Libs lose track of the forgotten peopleThe Australian 17 March 1993.Google Scholar
Carroll, J. & Manne, R. (eds.) (1992) Shutdown: The Failure of Economic Rationalism and How to Rescue Australia Melbourne: Octopus.Google Scholar
Davidson, K. (1992) ‘Defrocking the priests’ in Horne, D. (ed.) The Trouble with Economic Rationalism. Newham: Scribe 5862.Google Scholar
Donnelly, G. (1991) A Foundation in Economics. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes.Google Scholar
Engelbrecht, M.C. & Hanighen, P.C. (1934) Merchants of Death: A Study of the International Armament Industry. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co. Google Scholar
Horne, D. (1992) The Trouble with Economic Rationalism. Newham: Scribe.Google Scholar
Mathews, R. (1992) ‘Rationalism regardless of the consequencesThe Age 26 September 1992.Google Scholar
Petridis, T. (1989) ‘Shifting the boundaries’. Australian Society April.Google Scholar
Public Sector Union (1992) ‘Union Leader Rejects Economic Nationalism’ (Media Release) 21 July.Google Scholar
Pusey, M. (1991) Economic Rationalism in Canberra: A Nation-Building Slate Changes its Mind Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pusey, M. (1992) ‘What's wrong with economic rationalism?’ In Horne, D. (ed.) The Trouble with Economic Rationalism Newham: Scribe.Google Scholar
Riddell, T., Shackleford, J. & Stamos, S. (1987) Economics: A Tool for Understanding Society. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley (Third Edition).Google Scholar
McKenzie, R.B. (1983) The Limits of Economic Science: Essays on Methodology. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Waring, M. (1988) Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth. North Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Watts, R. (1993) ‘Australian Living Standards: Some Gender Considerations.’ Australian Journal of Social Issues 28 (1):119.Google Scholar