"The dismal science" is a derogatory alternative name for economics coined by the Victorian historian Thomas Carlyle in the 19th century. The term drew a contrast with the then-familiar use of the phrase "gay science" to refer to song and verse writing.
The phrase "the dismal science" first occurs in Thomas Carlyle's 1849 tract called Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question, in which he argued in favor of reintroducing slavery in order to restore productivity to the West Indies:
Not a "gay s...
