Economist/Theories

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Theories about Economist

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Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Identity

Clues

• The Economist speaks German.
• The economist is tracking down Sayid and/or Ben
• The economist employs a network of assassins.

The Economist is Alvar Hanso

• Much like Charles Widmore he can be classified as an "economist".
• Alvar Hanso funded the creation of the Dharma Initiative. Ben helped slaughter the contingent of Dharma on the island. Ben could not get to Hanso at the time because he wasn't on the island. The opportunity to kill the mysterious Alvar Hanso may have only recently presented itself.
• Hanso's agenda may conflict with both Widmore AND Ben's.
• Ben may not be able to kill his worst enemy Widmore but he may be able to kill #2...Alvar Hanso.

The Economist is Charles Widmore

Evidence:

• We know that Widmore and Ben are enemies, and Sayid is working for Ben. It makes sense that Sayid is after Widmore and vice-versa.
• He has the means to do so.
• Widmore has a very large and extensive company. He is probably fluent in many different languages.
• In There's No Place Like Home parts 2 & 3 Enhanced it states that Charles Widmore is the Economist.

This exert is take from There's No Place Like Home parts 2 & 3 Transcript: Sayid has become an assassin working for Ben, as revealedin this season's episode "The Economist" Ben provides Sayid with a list of people working for Charles Widmore. Counter-evidence

• Ben can't kill Widmore (as he says in The Shape of Things to Come), so Sayid's target can't be Widmore, but perhaps someone who works for Widmore.
  • When Ben mentioned he couldn't kill Widmore, could it not mean that he HIMSELF couldn't do it (for any number of possible reasons, including fear of creating a paradox given the 'time-travelling' element of the show)? Having somebody else kill Widmore - i.e. Sayid actually pulling the trigger - could be an attempt to avoid, or at least mitigate, this effect whilst actually achieving the desired goal.
    • Ben says he can't kill Widmore. He does not state that he could not hire someone to do this.

The Economist is Matthew Abaddon

Evidence:

• With what happened to Alex, Ben is motivated to kill him and all of the organization that was in charge of the freighter.
• Both seek survivors other than the Oceanic 6.
• Elsa has a bracelet and so does Naomi and they both have the same boss.
  • The producers said that the bracelets share no connection besides one reminding Sayid of the other.

Counter-evidence

• According to Darlton, the fact that Elsa and Naomi both have the same bracelet doesn't mean anything. "Sometimes a bracelet is just a bracelet".

The Economist is Ben

• The Economist is Ben, and he is tricking both sides into destroying themselves.

The Economist is a character unknown at this time

• The Economist is R.G. as Elsa and Naomi have very similar bracelets.
• Elsa speaks in German to her boss, implying that the Economist speaks German. Based on the current characters, this is not someone we know.

The Economist is on the Island

• The signal on Elsa's pager was about 30 minutes late, as was the payload in Daniel's experiment.
  • During the experiment Daniel talks to Regina and there is no delay, so there would be no difference with a pager
    • In any case, the signal on the pager is early, not late (she says they have called at 10, not the agreed time of 10:30)
      • I can't remember how the the time is comunicated to the viewer, but don't forget in German half ten means 9:30
        • The subtitling is correct. Elsa says "halb elf", which would be half eleven, or 10:30
• The Economist is Elsa herself, in a "Keyser Soze" sort of way.
  • An anagram of "The Economist" is "Tom's Hot Niece."
• The Economist is dead. Sayid killed him after he killed Elsa, which was why Ben had a new "name" for him to move onto.
• The Economist doesn't exist. He is a fictional character invented by the "other side" to flush out would-be assassins like Sayid.
• The Economist is a MacGuffin, whose existence was solely to motivate this episode's plot.
• The Economist is John Locke whose namesake was a famous philosopher and economist.
  • Very Feasible as the Locke and Linus relationship unfolds
• The Economist is Jacob who hates technology.
  • Both Jacob and the Economist are averse to technology (Jacob, artificial light; the Economist, modern forms of communication)
• The Economist is Mr. Avellino, and the scene on the golf course takes place after Sayid kills Elsa. This might explain why Avellino becomes afraid once he learns Sayid's identity, since after Elsa's death, the individuals on Ben's List are now aware that Sayid is coming for them.
  • Mr. Avellino is Italian, not German, creating a weak link in this theory.
    • There is no reason the Economist must be German:
      • Because Elsa only gets paged two or three times a year, the Economist might only come to Berlin on business, and actually resides in another place.
      • There is certainly no reason that you have to be German to speak German. He might do this either because Elsa doesn't know Italian, he doesn't want to blow his cover, or because they know (or think they know) that Sayid doesn't know German. For that matter, we don't know that the person on the other end of the line was actually speaking German.
      • No one ever said that Elsa was actually talking to the Economist on the phone, someone else could have paged her in his name.
      • The producers have said that all flashforwards take place in chronological order. Therefore, the death of Avellino happened before Elsa's.

The Economist is John Locke/Jeremy Bentham

• Jeremy Bentham was an economist (in a broad sense of the term)
• Ben could be trying to find Locke to take the island back, and Locke is trying to stop him

Counter-evidence

• Does Locke speak German?
• How does Locke have a network of off-island assassins?
  • Ben had off-island connections, or at least island thugs he could send to the mainland to do his bidding, so perhaps Locke, as the new Island Messiah, has access to the same thug network.
• Would Sayid really kill Locke? Doesn't he think Widmore is the enemy?

The Economist is Desmond/Penelope

• The Economist is Desmond David Hume. As written up in Wikipedia, "David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was an 18th-century Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian, considered among the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
• They are trying to kill Ben before he finds Penelope.

Counter-evidence

• How do they have a network of off-island assassins?
• Do they speak German?
• Would Sayid really kill either of them? Doesn't he think Widmore is the enemy? Even if he is actually, unbeknownst to him, tracking Widmore, presumably these paths lead in different directions since Penny is on the boat.