THE DISMAL SCIENCE?

An economist is often asked at a cocktail party what to read to learn some economics.

It’s easy to answer the question about chemistry or ancient Greek or any settled science. If you ask an astronomer what to read to learn some astronomy, she’ll have no problem.

But there’s a… pic.twitter.com/jqI7XNy2GY

— Deirdre Nansen McCloskey (@DeirdreMcClosk) July 2, 2026