An economist walks into a bar: learning from economic humor.

• Position: Insight

Winston Churchill once said if you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three opinions. It's a clever way of saying economics is an inexact science, and economists are known for equivocating. But do they also possess a sense of humor? Let's consider both equivocation and humor and see if there are lessons to be learned.

Economic equivocation is standard fare in economics. It happens so much that decisions makers often don't know whom to trust when making economic decisions. Should the Utah Legislature raise taxes to invest more in public education or will the tax increase stifle investment and hurt economic growth? Are low interest rates sustaining employment growth in this country or fueling the next housing bust? Is Utah's 3.5 percent unemployment rate full employment? If not, what is? These questions and hundreds more are difficult to answer because economics is complicated. The dismal science does not lend itself to lab research or precise formulaic assessment. Guesswork is part of the economist's job.

Most economists agree on some things: tariffs are bad and free trade is good; centralized economies do not maximize economic potential; markets work, with some important exceptions. But on the whole, economics relies on millions and millions of independent decisions made by people who don't always act consistently. It's this lack of consistency that makes economics difficult. People do unpredictable things.

The complexity, uncertainty, equivocation, imprecision and inconsistency in economics has given birth to hundreds of jokes poking fun at the craft. Lawyer jokes still have the edge, but economics is catching up. Cloaked in the humor are instructive lessons about economics. Here listed under the heading of an important economic truism are a few of my favorite economist jokes:

Beware of economists who give you the answer you want to hear. A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job.

The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks "What does two plus two equal?" The mathematician replies "Four."

The interviewer asks, "Four, exactly?" The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says, "Yes, four, exactly"

Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question: "What does two plus two equal?" The accountant says, "On average, four--give or take 10 percent, but on average, four" Then the interviewer calls in...