Dismal Science - Definition and Overview

The dismal science is another, often derogatory, name for economics. It is generally thought that economics got the nickname 'dismal science' as a response to economist Robert Malthus's grim predictions that starvation would result as projected population growth exceeded the rate of increase in the food supply.

However modern research has discovered that the phrase was originally used in an 1849 tract entitled Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question by the historian Thomas Carlyle in which he was arguing for the reintroduction of slavery as a means to regulate the labor market in the West Indies that was morally superior to the market forces of supply and demand suggested by economists.

External links

• The Origin of the Term "Dismal Science" to Describe Economics by Robert Dixon (http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/TLdevelopment/econochat/Dixonecon00.html)