• Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      6 days ago

      Two economists survive a shipwreck and are stranded on a desert island. They’re barely surviving on captured seagulls. One day they come across a big pile of seagull shit.

      “I bet you $50 you won’t eat that” says the first economist.

      “No? You’ll see” says the second, who scrapes up the pile of shit and promptly eats it, winning the bet.

      A bit later they find another pile.

      “Now I bet you $50 you can’t manage to eat that shit!”

      “Watch and learn!” says the first economist, who scrapes up the shit and eats it.

      “Now that I think on it, we’re now exactly the same we were at the beginning, only we’ve eaten shit.”

      “What? Not at all. We’ve increased the GDP of the island by $100!”

      • KobaCumTribute [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        6 days ago

        That’s a different one riffing on the same idea. The island one is they trade a suitcase or coconut or whatever back and forth until they’ve raised the island’s GDP enough that it produces a boat for them to leave with.