Economic Fairy Tales

Books on economics have become far more popular in recent years, with Freakonomics being one example. Fantasy books are also rising in popularity, with my beloved Harry Potter books leading the charge.

It is perhaps not surprising that someone would try to weave these two strands of literature together. Daniel Abraham‘s novelette The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairytale of Economics was a finalist in this year’s Hugo Awards. You can read it online here.

Without giving away too much of the story, let me just say that the protagonist is asked to solve three difficult economic questions.

I would be curious to hear what other economists think of it. I found the first answer to be the “right” one economically. But honestly, I couldn’t make much economic sense of the second and third answers.

(Hat tip: Petrea Mitchell)