One can only presume that the following song was sung to a doggeralized version of the inspiring hymn “I shall not be moved”, though I am unable to fit the Chicago lyrics to the tunes used for any of these classic covers:
Dream Team version: Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and (probably not) Johnny Cash
The civil rights version (The Freedom Singers)
The union version (Pete Seeger and Chorus)
Perhaps someone is still alive who knows who penned this masterpiece of economics irony? Asking for generations of economists yet unborn as well as for all the boomers and beyond still among us.
________________
THE LAW
(Anonymous, U. of Chicago)
I
In the days of old
And in every land
Economics was free
And supply meant demand
Adam Smith propounded it
No one has confounded it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be moved
There were no unions
All men were bossed
Marginal output
Met marginal cost
Ricardo repeated it
No one defeated it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be moved
The utilities moved
In harmonious flow
Through natural channels
To where they should go
Marshall repolished it
No one demolished it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be noved
Marginal product is
The perfect gauge
For capital’s gain
And the worker’s wage
Douglas computed it
No one refuted it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be moved
There were no barriers
And no controls
The system created
And reached its own goals
Friedman restated it
No one deflated it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be moved
The weavers wove
The spinners spun
They always had jobs
In the very long run
Smith propounded it
No one confounded it
Ricardo repeated it
No one defeated it
Marshall repolished it
No one demolished it
Douglas computed it
No one refuted it
Friedman restated it
No one deflated it
Praise be to our theory
We shall not be moved
II
These man were thinkers
Deep and profound
Their assumptions well based
Their logic sound
Their laws have developed
In several stages
Are now well-grounded
Will live through the ages
But as they develop
From leader to follower
The thinking becomes
Just a little bit hollower
If one looks at history
From beginning to end
Within it there is
This secular trend:
In the earlier men
Originality burns
But the neo’s are met
With smaller returns
This function descends
From great things to trifles
This is The Law
Of diminishing disciples.
Source: Harvard University Archives, Papers of Zvi Griliches, Box 129, Folder “Faculty skits, ca. 1960s”.