April Fools stories from The Economist’s archive

Persuading people that something outlandish may be true is an art—especially on April 1st, when readers should be on their guard against humorous mistruths.

Misjudged April Fools stunts can go badly wrong. Our history of hoaxes asks whether pranking has become irresponsible in an era of “fake news”, conspiracy theories and digital trickery. But most jokes are harmless. Below are our favourites from the past few decades, as well as one story that was not intended as an April Fool but could be mistaken for one. See if you can guess which it is.

In 1978 we wrote that the European Economic Community, as the eu was then, planned to harmonise birth rates across its member countries. In 1987 we called the 24-hour clock “inefficient” and advocated a move to decimal time. In 2009 we announced that The Economist was building its own theme park, called “Econoland”, which would combine the magic of the fair with the excitement of macroeconomics.

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