The first economist said to the other, "I'll pay you $20,000 to eat one of those piles of shit." The second one agrees and chooses one of the piles and eats it. The first economist pays him his $20,000.
Then the second economist says, "I'll pay you $20,000 to eat the other pile of shit." The first one says okay, and eats the shit. The second economist pays him the $20,000.
They resume walking down the street.
After a while, the second economist says, "You know, I don't feel very good. We both have the same amount of money as when we started. The only difference is we've both eaten shit."
The first economist says: "Ah, but you're ignoring the fact that we've created $40,000 of GDP!"
【中文翻譯】
兩位經濟學家走在路上，見到地上有兩跎狗屎。
第一位經濟學家對另一位說：「如果你能吃掉其中的一跎，我就給你兩萬美元。」第二位經濟學家聽了，二話不說把其中一跎屎吃了。
輪第二位經濟學家開口了，他說：「如果你能把剩下的一跎屎也給吃了，我也付你兩萬美元。」第一位經濟學家同意了，把屎吃了。於是，第二位付給第一位兩萬美元。
他們繼續往前走。
突然，第二位經濟學家說：「我越想越不對勁，我們所擁有的錢和最初相比完全一樣，唯一的差別是，我們都吃了一跎狗屎。」
第一位經濟學家答說：「喔，你忽略的一項事實，那就是我們貢獻了四萬美元的國民生產毛額 GDP。」
