To make a lasting impression, I began each course by reading a part of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Later, my friend Uzi Segal referred to a more fitting story, Anton Chekhov’s “The Ninny”. I doubt my students can recall what the Marginal Rate of Substitution is or how to calculate a competitive
equilibrium in an Edgeworth box but they probably remember The Ninny.
I did not explain what I was trying to do. I just read the story. When I came to the last paragraph, my voice was always quivering.
A few days ago, I invited my children’s governess, Yulia Vasilyevna, into my office. We needed to settle some debts.
“Have a seat, Yulia Vasilyevna!” I told her. “Let’s settle things. You
probably need money, but you are so officially stiff that you will not ask yourself”. “Well... We agreed that you are entitled to thirty rubles a month...”
“Forty...”
“No, thirty a month... I have it written down... I have always paid all governesses thirty a month. Well, you have lived here two months...”
“Two months and five days...”
“Two months. Exactly... I have it written down this way. You should,
accordingly, receive sixty rubles... Subtract nine Sundays... You did not work with Kolya on Sundays, did you. All you did was go for walks... Add three holidays...”
Yulia Vasilyevna flared up, and her fingers touched the edge of her
dress, fidgeting, but... Not a word was said!..
“Three holidays... So, strike twelve rubles then... Kolya was sick. Four
days without lessons... You were teaching Varya alone... You had a tooth-ache. It lasted three days, and my wife allowed you not to have lessons after lunch... Twelve plus seven - make nineteen. Subtract that... It leaves...
Hm... Forty-one rubles... Is that correct?’
Yulia Vasilyevna’s left eye grew red. It was now full of moisture. Her chin started shaking. She coughed nervously, blew her nose, but - nothing. Not a word!..
“Shortly before New Year’s, you broke a teacup and its saucer. Subtract two rubles... The cup is more expensive than that. It is a family heirloom, but... God is with you! Where haven’t we lost our own in life? Then, Kolya
climbed a tree and tore his little frock coat because you were not looking carefully... That is worth ten... The maid stole Varya’s shoes, and that also happened because you weren’t paying enough attention. You must look
after everything. You are getting constant pay. Well then, this means five more are gone... You took ten rubles from me on January tenth...”
“I did not,” whispered Yulia Vasilyevna.
“But I have it written down!”
“Well, alright... good.”
“Subtract twenty-seven. We had forty-one and will now have fourteen left...”
Both eyes were now filling up with tears... Her pretty, long, good-
looking nose was breaking a sweat. Poor girl!
“I only took it once,” she said, her voice trembling. “I took three rubles from your wife... I have not taken anything else since...”
“Indeed? Is that so? I don’t even have it written down! Subtract three.
We had fourteen and will now have eleven left... Here is your money,
dearest! Three... Three, three... One and one... Receive it!”
And I handed her eleven rubles... She took the money, her hands
trembling, and stuffed it in her pocket.
“Merci,” She whispered.
I jumped up and began pacing around the room. I was full of anger. “What is the ‘merci’ for?” I asked.
“For the money...”
“But I underpaid you and took from you, off to the devil with it, I
robbed you! I stole from you! What is this ‘merci’ for?”
“I did not get a thing at all working for others...”
“Did not get a thing? That is no surprise! I was joking just now. It was a harsh lesson... I will give you all of your eighty rubles! Here they are, waiting for you, ready, in an envelope! How can one be such a sour-faced girl? Why aren’t you protesting? Why are you silent? How is it possible to be so toothless in this world of ours? How can you be such a softy?”
Her sour smile showed, and I read the words on her face: “You can!” I asked her to forgive me for the harsh lesson and gave her, to her great astonishment, the full eighty. She timidly uttered ‘merci’ and left... I looked on after she was gone and thought: it is easy to be strong in this world!
. The Ninny and Economics
However you define Economics, this story is about Economics. It relates to
a fundamental economic situation in which two economic agents interact
to share a limited resource (their joint wealth) and it illustrates one of the
Economics’ most fundamental issues: the relationship between power and
wages.
6The story can be thought of as a sequential game. The employer repeat-
edly demands that the governess’ salary be reduced and her repeated si-
lence can be viewed as strategies in a two-player game in which credible
threats and expectations matter.
But whereas the employer appears to be thinking strategically and cor-
rectly predicts Y’s response to each of his demands, Y’s behavior might be
thought as an outcome of “cultural and institutional norms” rather than an
inferior bargaining position. According to this interpretation, the story can
be viewed as a critique of the economic approach which assumes that peo-
ple always maximize utility while ignoring such things as social status.
5. Submission
Given that The Ninny can be viewed as a story within economics, I “ad-
vised” Anton to “submit" the manuscript to a “top five” journal. Here is the
journal’s “response”:
Dear Anton:
Thank you for submitting your manuscript to our journal. After consulting with 7 exceptional referees and after reading the manuscript myself I came to the following conclusions:
Strengths:
1. The narrative craftsmanship is exceptional.
2. The exploration of human behavior and ethical dilemmas offers profound insights into the complexities of interpersonal relationships.
3. The paper touches important real-life situations.
Weaknesses:
1. The manuscript is too short and lacks the extensive development we look for in any submission to our distinguished journal.
2. The manuscript lacks a formal model or empirical analysis.
3. There are no robustness checks.
4. The manuscript lacks references to the relevant literature.
5. Interdisciplinary Potential: Exploring connections to behavioral economics or economic sociology could enhance the manuscript’s appeal.
6. The manuscript lacks a conclusions section.
Recommendation: Reject and resubmit.
