A one-sentence macro model: the farmer's wife koan capturing stagflation logic

dioscuri · x · 2026-10-18

Tom (@testingham) posted a "one-sentence macro model": on the way out the door, every farmer's wife says, "the weather's looking bad so don't buy as much at the market this week, but also don't sell our crops for less than the usual price."

Boosters called it an "econ koan"—ten seconds to read, an hour to unpack: demanding both lower spending and rigid prices mirrors the coexistence of shrinking demand and price stickiness in stagflation.

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