Welcome to the world’s most difficult game! It’s time to play “Is this a quote from Squid Game, or an econ major who believes in the free market?”

“If you work hard and play the game right, you can succeed.”

• This is the econ major! In a free market, all it takes is pulling yourself up by your bootstraps to achieve your goals. 

“Everyone is free to make their own decisions! No one’s forcing you to do anything.”

• This is the econ major! They’re simply describing how monopolistic concentration of power does not, in fact, harm consumers and promote wealth inequality; you can simply choose not to participate in capitalism and consequently die as a result of refusing to access marketized resources.

“Here, the players get to play a fair game under the same conditions. These people suffered with inequality and discrimination out in the world.”

• This is a tricky one! It’s actually from Squid Game. The econ major, however, does wholeheartedly believe that the market is self-correcting and things like “human rights” and “societal welfare” distract us from the importance of economic growth.

“You won’t get caught if you hide behind someone.” 

• This is actually both Squid Game and the econ major! Just in different contexts. Sang-woo from Squid Game was explaining how to win in red light green light, and the econ major was justifying billionaire tax evasion via secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

“They were simply eliminated for breaking the rules of the game. If you follow the rules, you can leave this place safely with the money we promised.”

• This is actually a quote from the hosts of Squid Game. The econ major knows that if you break the rules of the game, you don’t actually get eliminated; in fact, your name is likely Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or “My dad got me an internship at Citibank.”