"The Economist" is the third episode of the fourth season and 75th episode overall of the ABC's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on February 14, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada. The episode was written by co-executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by executive producer Jack Bender. In the episode's narrative, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) and Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) negotiate for John Locke's (Terry O'Quinn) hostage Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), while physicist and Kahana crew member Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) discovers that time on the island runs at an offset from the rest of the world. Another storyline follows Sayid working as an assassin after being rescued from the island.