"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable"
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Galbraith’s line lands because it commits the economist’s cardinal sin: admitting, in public, that the priesthood is guessing. The joke is structured as a status reversal. Astrology is the cultural shorthand for ornamental nonsense, the sort of prediction you read for fun and then promptly ignore. By claiming forecasting exists mainly to burnish astrology’s reputation, Galbraith isn’t just mocking forecasters; he’s puncturing the broader modern faith that complex societies can be steered by models with the confidence of physics.
The intent is disciplinary and political at once. Galbraith spent his career watching “objective” economic expertise get drafted into ideological battles - especially in midcentury America, where Keynesian management, Cold War technocracy, and later monetarist certainties all promised control over boom and bust. Forecasts became props in that drama: a way for governments, banks, and corporations to project competence, justify budgets, calm markets, or launder a preference as a neutral necessity. The subtext is that forecasting’s real product isn’t accuracy; it’s legitimacy.
It also works because it’s defensive comedy. Economists are expected to speak in equations and probability bands; Galbraith answers with a one-liner that’s easier to remember than any caveat. Beneath the wit is a warning about performative precision: when institutions demand numbers on an unknowable future, the incentive shifts from being right to sounding rigorous. Forecasting becomes theater with footnotes.
The intent is disciplinary and political at once. Galbraith spent his career watching “objective” economic expertise get drafted into ideological battles - especially in midcentury America, where Keynesian management, Cold War technocracy, and later monetarist certainties all promised control over boom and bust. Forecasts became props in that drama: a way for governments, banks, and corporations to project competence, justify budgets, calm markets, or launder a preference as a neutral necessity. The subtext is that forecasting’s real product isn’t accuracy; it’s legitimacy.
It also works because it’s defensive comedy. Economists are expected to speak in equations and probability bands; Galbraith answers with a one-liner that’s easier to remember than any caveat. Beneath the wit is a warning about performative precision: when institutions demand numbers on an unknowable future, the incentive shifts from being right to sounding rigorous. Forecasting becomes theater with footnotes.
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| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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