ECONOMICS is not usually associated with jokes. But once a year in the city of Kilkenny, in Ireland, organisers of the “Kilkenomics” festival inject fun into the dismal science. When it started back in November 2010 as Europe’s first combined economics and comedy festival, the Irish government was in no mood for laughter. As Ireland’s 10-year bond yields spiked to 9%, the festival organised its own mock ratings agency: Moody and Poor. Weeks later the government agreed an €85 billion ($91 billion) bailout deal.
Five years later, the festival has moved beyond sessions like “grannies for gold: how to sell your families on Amazon”, and “breakfast cereal for dinner: it’s okay to use a fork”, in the words of Dermot Whelan, a comedian. This year, over four days from November 5th, panellists pondered whether Ireland was on the cusp of a golden era, with professor Bill Black concluding that “Ireland will look like a star in the euro zone because the euro zone is crap”.
Beyond the woes of the Irish economy, the panellists did their best to put the fun in the fundamental welfare theorems and the...Continue reading
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