michael_cain's Journal: Committed

I have committed myself to the graduate school path. I have sent CU a deposit check. I have received the catalog and registration schedules for the fall term. I have started brushing up on calculus, linear algebra, and statistics, and catching up on intermediate micro- and macroeconomics. Most importantly, perhaps, I am no longer looking for a regular job. If Murphy is on the ball, that probably means that a job will come looking for me before too long.

An interesting episode occurred this week while I was reading macroeconomics (well, I think it was interesting). The author talks briefly about the velocity of money, then states that velocity will be assumed to be constant. The way that he made that statement somehow set off all of the mental alarms for dealing with vendors that I have built up over the years. When a telecommunications vendor tells you in a certain way that something isn't important, it means that it is important and you had better probe more deeply. A little digging on the Internet came up with a variety of interesting discussions about the possible role of money velocity when you consider the economy as a system with feedback loops. Perhaps the author just wanted to simplify things, and assuming constant velocity does. Perhaps the author doesn't agree with the economists who think velocity is important. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I wonder if I'll find myself sitting in class and wondering why the professor doesn't want me to think about certain questions?

One of my friends, an anthropologist by training, has taught me that looking at the kinds of jokes told by or about a particular profession can sometimes provide some insight into things. What am I getting myself into? What kinds of jokes are there about economics and economists? Some of the jokes are actually based on economics:

How many economists does it take to change a lightbulb?

None. If it really needed changing, market forces would have already seen to it.

Some of them reflect the inexact nature of the "science" of economics:

Economics is the only subject where two people can win the Nobel Prize for giving contradictory answers to the same question.

There appear to be an unfortunate number of recycled lawyer jokes:

What do you call 100 dead economists?

A good start.

And there are jokes that feed my personal fears about what to do with the degree after I get it:

Did your advanced economics degree help you get a job?

No, but now I understand why I'm unemployed.

OTOH, when I was getting a master's degree in operations research, I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but that turned into a 25-year career. Things will work out.