2011-03-16
Explanation
This comic is titled "Economist Pickup Lines" and shows a nerdy-looking man with glasses attempting to flirt with a woman at what appears to be a bar. His line is: "Hey baby. If I told you you had a beautiful body, would it improve your self esteem to a threshold at which you'd have no interest in me?"
The humor comes from applying economic reasoning to romantic interaction. The man is essentially describing a paradox: complimenting the woman would raise her self-esteem, but higher self-esteem would make her realize she could do better than him, thus making the compliment self-defeating. This is a play on concepts from economics like feedback loops, threshold effects, and rational self-interest. It also parodies the classic cheesy pickup line "If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" by replacing the innuendo with cold, depressing economic analysis. The joke works on multiple levels -- it's funny as a bad pickup line, as a commentary on insecurity, and as a satire of how economists view human relationships through the lens of incentive structures.