A famous joke about economists has a physicist, a chemist and an economist stranded on a desert island with but a single can of beans to eat and no way to open it. The physicist sets about calculating the right angle at which to throw rocks at the can so as to pierce its top. The chemist tries to figure out how to variously sit the can in the sun and then douse it in sea water so as to make it susceptible to pressure. The economist interrupts their calculations with “What’s the problem? First, we assume a can-opener.”
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