[sssilver]

An important thing that this joke misses is that both economists now also owe federal income tax and social security tax.

[RobotToaster]

If they routed the payments through a shell company it would be written off as business entertainment expenses.

[TedDoesntTalk]

Were the payments considered income?

[jermaustin1]

Yes, but they were under the 1099 reporting limits, while they both owe taxes on them, neither were required to report it to the IRS... assuming this is the one and only time they paid each other for services rendered.

[direwolf20]

Yes, but they just didn't tell the IRS and nobody was any the wiser