| 词条 | Assume a can opener |
| 释义 |
OriginIt derives from a joke which dates to at least 1970 and possibly originated with British economists.[3] The first book mentioning it is likely Economics as a Science (1970) by Kenneth E. Boulding:[4] There is a story that has been going around about a physicist, a chemist, and an economist who were stranded on a desert island with no implements and a can of food. The physicist and the chemist each devised an ingenious mechanism for getting the can open; the economist merely said, "Assume we have a can opener"! The phrase was popularized in a 1981 book and has become sufficiently well known that many writers on economic topics use it as a catchphrase without further explanation.[5][6] Examples of usageThe joke and its application to economists were taken up in the 1981 book Paper Money by "Adam Smith" (pseudonym of George Goodman),[7] wherein he applied the story to the then-tendency of economists to assume that inflation would go away, and mocked the notion that economists are "the high priests of this esoteric mystery."[8] In contrast, he asks "why the economists are always wrong."[9] The phrase "assume a can opener" became "his nagging accusation against the deductive logic and analytical models of economists."[10] The Italian finance minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa used the phrase in 2006 to illustrate that "Very often, when economists comment, they assume politics away."[11] It has been used in Australia to describe "a treasurer who has lost all touch with reality"[12] and politicians "assuming away" the problem of getting a global greenhouse gas deal.[13] It was used in India to describe American economic policy toward China.[14] It has been extended beyond economics to describe diplomats and negotiators working toward peace in the Middle East, who have "attempted to build confidence among the warring parties as if the conflict were just a big misunderstanding" and who "assumed leaders who did not exist, as a way to conjure a preferable reality."[15] See also
References1. ^{{cite book|last=Mankiw|first=N. Gregory|title=Macroeconomics|url=https://books.google.com/?id=UT64rsFG1b0C&pg=PA238 |edition=7th|year=2010|publisher=Worth Publishers|location=New York|isbn=1-4292-1887-8|pages=238–239}} 2. ^{{cite book|last=Kaletsky|first=Anatole|title=Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis|url=https://books.google.com/?id=tddtKDXru4cC&pg=PA156 |year=2010|publisher=Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-58648-871-0|page=156|chapter=11 "There is no can opener"}} 3. ^Barry Popik: “Assume you have a can opener” (economics joke about opening a food can). In: The Big Apple. December 5, 2010 4. ^Kenneth E. Boulding: Economics as a Science. McGraw-Hill, 1970, p. 101 5. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/08/first-assume-can-opener|title=First, Assume a Can Opener.....|last=Drum|first=Kevin|date=August 18, 2010|work=Mother Jones|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 6. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2012/11/monetary-policy-5|title=Monetary policy: First, assume a can-opener|date=November 28, 2012|work=The Economist|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 7. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/books/bullish-about-the-system.html|title=Bullish about the system|last=Silk|first=Leonard|date=March 22, 1981|work=The New York Times|accessdate=March 18, 2013}} 8. ^{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PylGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8NAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6867,2372868&dq=assume-a-can-opener&hl=en|title=Straight talk given on economic mess|date=March 28, 1981|work=Daily Times|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 9. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/09/books/books-of-the-times-books-of-the-times.html|title=Books of the Times: Review of Paper Money by Adam Smith|last=Lehmann-Haupt|first=Christopher|date=March 9, 1981|work=The New York Times|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 10. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/books/bullish-about-the-system.html|title=Bullish about the system|last=Silk|first=Leonard|date=March 22, 1981|work=The New York Times|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 11. ^{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60C1EFC385A0C778EDDA80994DE404482|title=High and low finance: Temptations of a minister of finance|last=Norris|first=Floyd|date=November 24, 2006|work=The New York Times|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 12. ^{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/terry-mccranns-column/swans-speech-a-laugh-a-minute/story-e6frfig6-1226071313597|title=Swan's speech a laugh a minute|last=McCrann|first=Terry|author2=Herald-Sun|date=June 8, 2011|work=Herald Sun|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 13. ^{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/doing-nothing-as-preferable-to-this/story-e6frg6zo-1226014408604|title=Doing nothing is preferable to this|last=Carmody|first=Geoff|date=March 2, 2011|work=The Australian|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 14. ^{{cite news|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/idINIndia-56134720110405|title=Easy money will keep pressure on commodities|last=Kemp|first=John|date=April 5, 2011|work=Reuters India|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 15. ^{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EE5AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oPQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4988,1702377&dq=assume-a-can-opener&hl=en|title=Peace Processing 101|last=May|first=Cliff|date=February 17, 2009|work=Gettysburg Times|accessdate=18 March 2013}} 4 : Criticisms of economics|Catchphrases|Professional humor|1970 introductions |
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