Vaidas Urba pointed me to a very clever post by John Carney of CNBC. It includes parodies of many well known bloggers, on the theme of Christmas and economics. Here’s an example–see if you can guess who:
If the Fed would simply announce a nominal target for presents, we’d all receive more presents on Christmas day. There are many ways to do NCPT, but I prefer that the Fed creates a presents futures market.
A lot of people look at the amount of presents under the tree and attempt to derive the stance of Santa. But this is wrong. You need to examine the demand for presents as well as the supply. In general, a large pile of presents is a sign that Christmas policy has been too tight, while coal in the stocking is a sign that it has been too loose.
At the risk of spoiling the joke, I’m going to try to improve it further
A lot of people look at the amount of presents under the tree and attempt to derive the stance the parents’ generosity. But this is wrong. The pile of presents represents the interaction of generosity and deserts. In general, a larger pile of presents is a sign that the stance of Christmas policy has been relatively generous. But the level of generosity also depends on how many presents are deserved, which depends both on the behavior of the child and the wealth of the parents. An increased pile might represent greater generosity, but also greater deserts, due to improved wealth and/or better behavior by the child.
Yeah, I know, I’ve ruined the joke.
PS. Although I am now a “somebody”, I am under no illusion that I am anywhere but at the bottom of the class of people called “somebody”. But at least I’m not a nobody.