This characterization of Expertise in Popular Economics is still very apt, I think; it was written nearly two centuries ago.
(The original is at the bottom of the post.)
... in Adam Smith was his diploma;
our deep economist had got
the gift of recognizing what
a nation’s wealth is, what augments it,
and how a country lives, and why
it needs no gold if a supply
of _simple product_¹ supplements it.
His father failed to understand
and took a mortgage on his land.
This is from Pushkin's _Eugene Onegin_, a part of the introduction of the titular character (Chapter One, stanza VII).
This is a very serious book, but at the same time there are pinches of sarcasm throughout; let the reader pay attention.
I just picked the first translation at hand and it happened to be Charles Johnston’s from 1977 (as published by Alfred A. Knopf in the US, sixth printing; page 16).
Unfortunately, I have misplaced my copy of Douglas Hofstadter’s translation (there are quite a few English translations overall, perhaps about ten).
For comparison, here is a non-poetic literal translation:
... However, he read Adam Smith
And was a deep economist,
That is, he was capable of judgement on
The way a nation gains wealth,
And what it lives on, and why
It needs no gold,
As long as it has _simple product_¹.
His father could not understand him
And used lands as collateral.
Pushkin’s original:
... Зато читал Адама Смита
И был глубокий эконом,
То есть умел судить о том
Как государство богатеет,
И чем живет, и почему
Не нужно золото ему,
Когда оно _простой продукт_¹ имеет.
Отец его понять не мог
И земли отдавал в залог.
_________
¹ The precise meaning of “simple product” (простой продукт) is obscure; it may refer to concepts of late-18th-century French economics.
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