Economist comedians – no, seriously!
whitehouse.gov/xml/video/21450/config.xml&path_to_plugins=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/modules/wh_multimedia/wh_jwplayer/plugins&path_to_player=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x2.swf">
I heard a very nice story on Austan Goolsbee, the new Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, this morning on NPR. It reminded me that I wanted to hold Austan up as a rare example of an economist who makes economics accessible and compelling to non-economists. Last week the White House featured him doing the above “White House White Board” one-minute explanation of the Obama Administration’s position on the Bush Tax Cuts. I think it’s very effective–even though I’d prefer that we shrink the permanent size of all those circles he draws and swap them for smaller but more “powerful” ones.
The NPR story on Austan links to Austan’s very entertaining appearance on The Colbert Report and quotes Doug Holtz-Eakin saying this about Austan:
“There are not many people who are smart, who are well-trained, and at the same time can take off the gloves and be extremely populist on the airwaves and the campaign trail, and then win comedian of the year award,” said Holtz-Eakin.
But Austan is not the only funny economist out there. Thanks to reader Jim Glass, I’ve discovered the “Stand-Up Economist,” Yoram Bauman, who entertained an economists-only audience at this year’s American Economic Association meetings. You might not really “get” all this humor if you haven’t been through graduate-level economics training or have otherwise become an economics geek, but it’s absolutely hilarious if you have. (And you should probably not post it on your Facebook profile as a way to get dates.)
Add/view comments on this post.
------------------------------
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.
