Bar graphs, not batting averages grace new Economist Trading Cards

If you are fed up with striking Major League baseball players and can't even stand to look at their faces on baseball cards, you might want to start a new collection -- Economist Trading Cards. Economists are not likely to go on strike anytime soon, and they are steadier performers than the boys of summer. Two of the University's own, Economics Professor Lawrence Klein and Finance Professor Sanford Grossman, are included among 29 economists in the 1995 edition of the trading cards, which is produced by the Economics Club of the University of Michigan-Flint. Klein, who was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize for Economics for building a statistical model for economic forecasting and analyzing economic policy, joked about the potential value of the cards. "Like baseball trading cards, in 50 years maybe they'll be very valuable," Klein said. Grossman said the photograph on his trading card did not do him justice. "I'm even handsomer than the picture," he said. University of Michigan-Flint Economics Club President Bonnie Kincaid said proceeds from sales of the cards are being used for a scholarship fund at University of Michigan-Flint. Some of the profits from the 1993 edition were used for this purpose. The remainder went to fund a trip the club took to Boston for the 1994 Economic Conferences. Kincaid said the club plans to use money generated by sales of the 1995 edition to endow the scholarship, and to fund a club trip to Chicago in the spring. For skeptics who think an economics club could have thought of a better way to make money, the popularity of the cards might be surprising: The club has sold approximately 5,500 sets of the 1993 edition, and received requests for 800 copies of the 1995 edition before it had even been released. Among those who have purchased sets are World Bank and Federal Reserve employees, as well as collectors, according to Kincaid. One Federal Reserve bank purchased sets for its entire staff. Kincaid explained how the cards gained popularity. "It went across the wire from the Associated Press, and it just went crazy everywhere," she said. The front of each card features a photo of the economist, along with the economist's name and university. The back lists, among other things, the economist's field, positions, contributions to economics and recommended readings. To choose economists for the 1993 edition, the club sent forms to approximately 100 economists, and the 29 who replied were included in the set. Others heard about the set and wanted to be included, and the club decided to again use 29 economists to form the 1995 edition. All economists included in the sets are relatively prominent, according to Kincaid. "We've stuck with a lot of Nobel Prize winners," she said. Kincaid said the club already has plans for its next two sets of trading cards. One will feature policymakers who are economists, such as Federal Reserve Chairperson Alan Greenspan, Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Alice Rivlin, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Another will be a "dead set," to include important economists from the past, such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx.