A lady from the Midwest has asked me why economics is called the dismal science. (Why must it always be a lady from the Midwest? Are there no gentlemen in the Midwest? Are we in some obscure way holding the ladies up to public ridicule? Who, after all, married Aunt Jane from Dubuque if it wasn’t a gentleman from the Midwest? What strange sort of birds are they out there, anyway? Has the Audubon Society been notified?)
Why, she asked, is economics called the dismal science? (The “she” in this case may be taken generically, or with a pinch of salt, whichever feels best on the tailfeathers.) Economics is called the dismal science because it was invented by a Protestant clergyman. Fair enough, sweetie?
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