Assume a can opener
"Assume a can opener" is a catchphrase used to mock economists and other theorists who base their conclusions on unjustified or oversimplified assumptions.[1][2]
The phrase derives from a joke which dates to at least 1970 and possibly originated with British economists.[3] The first book mentioning it is likely Economics as a Science (1970) by Kenneth E. Boulding:[4]
There is a story that has been going around about a physicist, a chemist, and an economist who were stranded on a desert island with no implements and a can of food. The physicist and the chemist each devised an ingenious mechanism for getting the can open; the economist merely said, "Assume we have a can opener"!
The phrase was popularized in a 1981 book and has become sufficiently well known that many writers on economic topics use it as a catchphrase without further explanation.[5][6]
The joke and its application to economists were taken up in the 1981 book Paper Money by George Goodman (under the pseudonym "Adam Smith"),[7] wherein he applied the story to the then-tendency of economists to assume that inflation would go away, and mocked the notion that economists are "the high priests of this esoteric mystery."[8] In contrast, he asks "why the economists are always wrong."[9] The phrase "assume a can opener" became "his nagging accusation against the deductive logic and analytical models of economists."[10]
Italian finance minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa used the phrase in 2006 to illustrate that "Very often, when economists comment, they assume politics away."[11] It has been used in Australia to describe "a treasurer who has lost all touch with reality"[12] and politicians "assuming away" the problem of getting a global greenhouse gas deal.[13] It was used in India to describe American economic policy toward China.[14]
It has been extended beyond economics to describe diplomats and negotiators working toward peace in the Middle East, who have been described as behaving "as if the conflict were just a big misunderstanding" and "[assuming] leaders who did not exist, as a way to conjure a preferable reality."[15]
See also
- Occam's razor – Philosophical principle of selecting the solution with the fewest assumptions
- Spherical cow – A humorous metaphor for highly simplified scientific models of complex real life phenomena
- Existence theorem
- Mathematical induction
References
- ^ Mankiw, N. Gregory (2010). Macroeconomics (7th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers. pp. 238–239. ISBN 1-4292-1887-8.
- ^ Kaletsky, Anatole (2010). "11 "There is no can opener"". Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis. New York: Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-58648-871-0.
- ^ Barry Popik: “Assume you have a can opener” (economics joke about opening a food can). In: The Big Apple. December 5, 2010
- ^ Kenneth E. Boulding: Economics as a Science. McGraw-Hill, 1970, p. 101
- ^ Drum, Kevin (August 18, 2010). "First, Assume a Can Opener..." Mother Jones. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ "Monetary policy: First, assume a can-opener". The Economist. November 28, 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Silk, Leonard (March 22, 1981). "Bullish about the system". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ "Straight talk given on economic mess". Daily Times. March 28, 1981. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (March 9, 1981). "Books of the Times: Review of Paper Money by Adam Smith". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Silk, Leonard (March 22, 1981). "Bullish about the system". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Norris, Floyd (November 24, 2006). "High and low finance: Temptations of a minister of finance". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ McCrann, Terry; Herald-Sun (June 8, 2011). "Swan's speech a laugh a minute". Herald Sun. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Carmody, Geoff (March 2, 2011). "Doing nothing is preferable to this". The Australian. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ Kemp, John (April 5, 2011). "Easy money will keep pressure on commodities". Reuters India. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
- ^ May, Cliff (February 17, 2009). "Peace Processing 101". Gettysburg Times. Retrieved 18 March2013.
Paper Money
by
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Contents
Acknowledgements
1. If times have been so good, why do we feel so bad
2. Why not call up the economists
3. Apocalyptic fiction
4. The chilling symbol: A wheelbarrow full of money
5. Why houses become more than houses
6. The proliferating dollar: How the key currency got debased
7. How OPEC started, and grew, and engineered the greatest transfer of wealth in world history
8. Why the "energy crisis" is misnamed, and why it is a financial threat no matter what the name
9. The Saudi connection: The Kingdom and the power
10. Recycling the petrodollars: Treacherous seas, gale-force winds, fire!
11. The stock market: What do we do on Monday morning?
12. What paper money means
Notes
Bibliography
Index (less)
Acknowledgements
1. If times have been so good, why do we feel so bad
2. Why not call up the economists
3. Apocalyptic fiction
4. The chilling symbol: A wheelbarrow full of money
5. Why houses become more than houses
6. The proliferating dollar: How the key currency got debased
7. How OPEC started, and grew, and engineered the greatest transfer of wealth in world history
8. Why the "energy crisis" is misnamed, and why it is a financial threat no matter what the name
9. The Saudi connection: The Kingdom and the power
10. Recycling the petrodollars: Treacherous seas, gale-force winds, fire!
11. The stock market: What do we do on Monday morning?
12. What paper money means
Notes
Bibliography
Index (less)
Paperback, 399 pages
Published 1982 by Dell (first published 1981)
《…一人の物理学者、一人の化学者、一人の経済学者が、何一つ道具を持たず、ただ缶詰1個を
持って無人島に打ち上げられたという有名な話がある。物理学者と化学者とは、缶詰を開ける
精巧な機械を考案したが、経済学者は、ただこう言ったという。「缶切りがあると仮定せよ!」》
134頁