The Economic Conundrum

At one time called the Dismal Science yielding little joy
Economists for many years did their sharp minds employ
Their thoughts focused day by day on how to increase wealth
And thus enhance our lives by improving financial health

They spent many hours examining the ‘factors of production’
How each might promote growth thus avoiding all obstruction
There should be no obstacles in the way, no awkward inhibitions
The slogan and the rallying call was complete Free Competition

The use of Land, Labour and Capital comprised the magic potion
And Enterprise, the wizard, applied a stirring motion
And from the steaming vapours of this brew we all would gain
Thus economic growth became the Holy Grail

This all sounded plausible and few it would gainsay
But economic equations can often go astray
The problem seems to be that when humans are involved
The rules of other sciences, the economy just ignored

Some basic principles like demand, supply, and price
As a predictor of choice was quite a sound device
But on a global scale when estimating how people might behave
The errors that resulted were really rather grave

But despite the lack of any real precision
Economists have sought to influence decisions
Monetarists made money their very real fixation
While Fiscal gurus obsessed much on taxation

Then these experts ventured into many other spheres
Which no doubt offered to each and all a lucrative career
So interest rates, and foreign trade they found had much potential
And credit swaps and derivatives  somehow grew essential

Flotations and mergers and the Stock Exchange gyrations
No problem left unsolved what e’r the complications
Economists were waiting with a ready made solution
Right at the cutting edge of the knowledge revolution

So we celebrate the words of Adam Smith of old
How amidst the capitalists’ sweeping actions bold
Existed a force which Smith called an ‘invisible hand’
That self-regulating market force hidden in our land

So perhaps the conundrum of economic thought
From which all its various wondrous fruits were wrought
Is simply that its disciplines help to show the way
Nonetheless we alone decide how to live each day

Ken Fisher