Paul Krugman Quotes About Economists

Quotes about: Economists

• Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I can think of, they use their books to do an end run around the normal structure of scholarship, to preach ideas that few serious economists share. Often, these ideas are not just at odds with the professional consensus; they are demonstrably wrong, and sometimes terminally silly. But they sound good to the unwary reader.

  Paul Krugman

  Running, Silly, Book

• These days, however, the main problem comes from the right - from conservatives who, unlike most economists, really do think that the free market is always right - to such an extent that they refuse to believe even the most overwhelming scientific evidence if it seems to suggest a justification for government action.

  Paul Krugman

  Believe, Thinking, Government

  "Earth in the Balance Sheet". www.slate.com. April 18, 1997.

• However, the fact that an economist offers a theoretical analysis does not and should not automatically command respect. What is needed is some assurance that the analysis is actually relevant.

  Paul Krugman

  Doe, Analysis, Facts

• Sometimes economists in official positions give bad advice; sometimes they give very, very bad advice; and sometimes they work at the OECD.

  Paul Krugman

  Giving, Advice, Sometimes

  "The Beatings Must Continue" by Paul Krugman, krugman.blogs.nytimes.com. April 30, 2013.

• Unsustainable situations usually go on longer than most economists think possible. But they always end, and when they do, it's often painful.

  Paul Krugman

  Thinking, Goes On, Painful

• The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.

  Paul Krugman

  Groups, Economics, Mathematics

  "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?". www.nytimes.com. September 2, 2009.

• If you are a good economist, a virtuous economist, you are reborn as a physicist. But if you are an evil, wicked economist, you are reborn as a sociologist.

  Paul Krugman

  Evil, Wicked, Reborn

• Until the Great Depression, most economists clung to a vision of capitalism as a perfect or nearly perfect system. That vision wasn’t sustainable in the face of mass unemployment, but as memories of the Depression faded, economists fell back in love with the old, idealized vision of an economy in which rational individuals interact in perfect markets.

  Paul Krugman

  Memories, Perfect, Vision

  "How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?". www.nytimes.com. September 2, 2009.

• Congress has always had a soft spot for "experts" who tell members what they want to hear, whether it's supply-side economists declaring that tax cuts increase revenue or climate-change skeptics insisting that global warming is a myth.

  Paul Krugman

  Cutting, Climate, Experts

• Economists don't usually make good speculators, because they think too much.

  Paul Krugman

  Thinking, Too Much, Economist

  Paul Krugman (2004). “The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century”, p.40, W. W. Norton & Company

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