What is In This Economy?

It's a catchphrase used to decline or dismiss anything by invoking the state of the economy, usually in contexts where money is irrelevant.

Where did In This Economy come from?

The sincere version spread during the 2008 Great Recession, and online ironic use picked up on X and Reddit the same year.

What does In This Economy mean?

As a sincere phrase it means "that's too expensive right now"; as a meme it mocks that excuse by applying it to things that cost nothing, like serotonin or monogamy.

How do you use In This Economy?

Pair "In this economy?" with a non-financial subject in a short two-beat reply, like @idlyoccupied's "Monogamy? In this economy?"

Is In This Economy still popular?

The format saw heavy reposting through 2021 and 2022, with @idlyoccupied's monogamy tweet reaching over 21,000 likes and a Facebook repost later pulling over 150,000 reactions.

In This Economy

2008catchphraseclassic

Published October 9, 2026

"In This Economy" is a catchphrase used to brush off any suggestion by blaming the state of the economy, almost always in contexts where money has nothing to do with it. It blew up during the 2008 Great Recession, flipped into online irony, and powered one of Tumblr and X's stickiest reaction templates, "X? In this economy?!"

catchphrase memes snowclone memes economic anxiety memes dismissal memes tumblr memes

Overview

The joke runs on a mismatch between the earnest grown-up excuse the phrase was invented for and the trivial or absurd subject a poster drops into it. The template is a two-beat question and dismissal, like "Monogamy? In this economy? It takes seven people to buy a house"11 or "Serotonin? In this economy?"9. The absurdity scales with the subject's distance from actual money.

Tone-wise it reads as mock-weary and ironically middle-aged, borrowing the cadence of pundits and relatives who use the real version. Urban Dictionary's 2011 entry pegged it as "a preface or tagline used to mollify or quantify any ridiculous or unscrupulous action or statement"7, and the meme kept that function while bending it toward serotonin, Live Laugh Love posters, and loyalty to a crime boss4.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Cable news (original phrase) / Tumblr & X (viral template)

Date

2008

The sincere version of the phrase crept into American speech during the Great Recession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009 and pushed unemployment to 10 percent1. By 2008 X users were already posting "not in this economy" as a glib brush-off, and on March 10, 2009, a now-deleted Redditor opened an r/AskReddit thread titled "Does anyone else hate the phrase 'in this economy?' I can't stand it, but I hear it everywhere!"3. One month later, on April 11, 2009, YouTuber TheFullGinsburg published a supercut of newscasters and politicians saying it on repeat2.

How It Spread

Urban Dictionary logged its first user-submitted definition on October 19, 20117. The templated version "X? In this economy?" showed up on X late that year, with user @jvannoord posting an early example on December 29, 20115. Bob's Burgers put the trope on mainstream TV in a November 24, 2013 episode built around a character using the phrase to sound grown-up, and the scene later circulated on YouTube6.

Tumblr turned it into a reflex. A March 2016 post listing "things you can say in response to literally anything" included "in this economy?" and pulled over 224,000 notes4. In September 2018, user writingmyselfintoanearlygrave answered a writing prompt with "In this economy? Thank them politely, pledge your loyalty, and join the mob," reaching over 201,000 notes8. The next year, iFunny user noon_Cyan posted a screenshot of a now-deleted Tumblr post reading "Serotonin? In this economy?" that drew over 43,000 smiles9.

The template kept rolling through the 2020s. On April 10, 2020, @IsabelSteckel wrote "live, laugh, AND love? in this economy???? are you insane"10. On November 2, 2021, @idlyoccupied posted "Monogamy? In this economy? It takes seven people to buy a house," picking up over 21,000 likes11.

Timeline

2007-12

The Great Recession begins, driving mainstream use of the sincere phrase "in this economy."

2013-11-24

Bob's Burgers season 4 episode 5 features a joke built around the phrase.

2016-03-02

A Tumblr post listing universal responses includes "in this economy?" and later clears 224,000 notes.

2018-09-13

Tumblr user writingmyselfintoanearlygrave posts the mob-loyalty riff that reaches 201,000+ notes.

2019-05-10

IFunny user noon_Cyan posts a screenshot of the "Serotonin? In this economy?" Tumblr joke.

2020-04-10

X user @IsabelSteckel posts the "live, laugh, AND love? in this economy???" variant.

2021-11-02

X user @idlyoccupied posts the viral "Monogamy? In this economy?" tweet, picking up 21,000+ likes.

How to Use This Meme

Users typically pair "In this economy?" with a subject that has nothing to do with money, framing it as a short two-beat response. The common convention is to pick something small, abstract, or absurdly non-financial, like serotonin, monogamy, basic emotions, or a decorative poster, so the mock-outrage reads as deadpan irony rather than a real complaint.