The real reason I went into economics

They teach you a lot of things when you study economics: about marginal cost, incentives, dynamic optimization, etc.

But up until now, the real reason for why people study economics had been a closely held secret known only to economists — kept carefully hidden away from the hoi polloi.

Well, it turns out Joey Cheek, of all people, is the one who blew the secret. You may remember Joey Cheek as a gold medal speed skater from the Winter Olympics. It turns out he is also quite smart. He was admitted to Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. (Harvard, however, turned him down.)

Parade magazine quotes Cheek as saying that he plans to study economics. And then he goes on to blow the secret we economists have so carefully guarded for all these years. He plans to study economics because “that’s what gets the chicks.”

(My wife Jeannette adds that I am living proof.)