72 Holiday quiz The EconomistDecember 21st 2019
1T
his year’squiz is based on
ten famous economists.
Four questions are loosely
linked to each one, and a fifth
requires the connection be-
tween the four. Send answers
to [email protected]
by January 6th 2020. Three
winners, chosen at random,
will receive copies of “Un-
common Knowledge”, The
Economist’s new book.John Maynard Keynes- Keynes made his name after
the first world war with a
book called “The Economic
Consequences of the Peace”.
He wrote a book with a very
similar title about which
famous British politician? - In later years, Keynes visited
that politician at which
well-known London ad-
dress, whose last private
owner was a Mr Chicken? - Which well-known econo-
mist of the Keynesian school
coined the term “monopso-
ny” in her famous book “The
Economics of Imperfect
Competition”? - Keynes published his Gen-
eral Theory in 1936. Due to a
constitutional crisis in
Britain, 1936 was also known
as “the year of three whats”? - What theme (apart from
Keynes) links these answers?
Milton Friedman- Friedman taught at which
university for 30 years? A
school of economic thought
was named after it. - Friedman was awarded the
Nobel prize for economic
thought in 1976. Which
baseball team, the most
successful in the sport’s
history, lost the World Series
that year? - The year 1976 also saw the
death of Bobby Hackett, a
famous American cornetist.
With which style of music
was he associated? - In 1950 Friedman was a
consultant to the American
government, helping admin-
ister the Marshall Plan in
Paris, home of the Moulin
Rouge. What sort of shows,
from the word for “wooden
structure” in old French,
were held at the club?- What theme (apart from
Friedman) links all these
answers?
Adam Smith- What type of establishment
did Smith use to illustrate
his belief about the benefits
of the division of labour? - Smith wrote his works in the
aftermath of great 18th-
century speculative events
such as the South Sea Bubble.
In which narrow London
passage, from Cornhill to
Lombard Street, did much
financial trading occur? - Smith died in 1790, the same
year as Benjamin Franklin,
who invented a device to
protect against what meteo-
rological phenomenon? - In the Bible, Adam was the
name of the first man. What
was the title of a well-known
feminist magazine, named
after the way Eve was sup-
posedly created?- What theme links all these
answers?
Karl Marx- In a manifesto published in
1 848, what did Marx say was
haunting Europe? - Marx thought that commu-
nist revolution would occur
only in a highly industri-
alised country. But which
less-developed nation actu-
ally had the first successful
communist takeover? - H.L. Mencken, an American
journalist said, “Commu-
nism, like any other revealed
religion, is largely made up
of prophecies.” He was more
enthusiastic, however, about
his favourite drink, describ-
ing it as “the only American
invention as perfect as the
sonnet.” What was it? - Fritz Lang, the Vienna-born
film director, was briefly
blacklisted in the 1950s for
his supposed association
with communism. What was
the title of his 1931 master-
piece about a child killer? - What theme links all these
answers?
Irving Fisher- Fisher’s economic output
included works on the quan-
tity theory of money and
debt deflation. But his rep-
utation was spoiled by his
remark in October 1929 that
stocks had a reached a “per-
manently high” what? - Fisher was a great enthusiast
for Prohibition. Two states
failed to ratify the 18th
amendment that passed
prohibition into law: Con-
necticut was one. Which was
the other? (Hint: it is the
smallest state in the union.)
A dismal science
Test your knowledge of ten
economists and their worldsQuiz