Menopausal: how an ill-advised analogy left the Bank of England deputy red faced

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/shortcuts/2018/may/16/menopausal-how-an-ill-advised-analogy-left-the-bank-of-england-deputy-red-faced

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Name: Menopausal.

Age: Usually between 45 and 55.

Look, if we are talking about the menopause, I already know what it is. It is the time in a woman’s life when she stops being able to conceive children naturally. You’re right about that. But, in fact, we’re talking about the word “menopausal”.

Why are we doing that? Because Ben Broadbent, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, has got himself into hot water by using it.

Oh, no. What did he do? He spoke to a journalist.

Never a good idea. In this case, the journalist was Anna Isaac of the Telegraph. During a conversation with her, Broadbent used the word “menopausal” to describe poor productivity in the British economy.

I can already feel the water heating up. According to him, it is an analogy used by some boffins when economies enter phases in which they are “past their peak and no longer so potent”.

Yup. That ought to do it. Indeed it did. Today, Broadbent apologised “for my poor choice of language” after many people reacted angrily to the suggestion that women are past their peak when they reach the menopause.

Understandably! Because that implies that having children is all that women are good for, which is obviously unpleasant and untrue. Indeed. But was Broadbent implying that? Have you read the whole interview?

Of course not. I’m too busy and angry for that kind of thing. Well, if you do, you’ll see that he was talking about what’s known as the “climacteric” period at the end of the 19th century, when the productivity gains of steam were running out of, well, steam.

Right. And he thinks Britain may be experiencing something similar now, as the digital economy matures.

Fine. So why bring the menopause into it? Because that’s what “climacteric” means. It’s a term that economic historians borrowed from biology long ago, to describe the way productivity declines over time.

Were these male economic historians? I expect most of them were, yes, but “climacteric” refers to the loss of reproductive capacity in both genders. And Broadbent attempted to explain this.

But he still used the word “menopausal”. Yeah. I’d hazard a guess that he regrets that.

Do say: “I think economists need a new term for the late 19th century that stays away from menopause altogether.”