Economic Policy Quotes

Economic policies need to be analyzed in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the hopes that inspired them.

Thomas Sowell

Needs, Incentives, Inspired

Thomas Sowell (2010). “Basic Economics 4th Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy”, p.45, Basic Books

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An economic policy which does not consider the well-being of all will not serve the purposes of peace and the growth of well-being among the people of all nations.

Eleanor Roosevelt

People, Growth, Doe

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Progressive economic policies lead to a sustainable economy.

Keith Ellison

Progressive, Economic, Economy

"This Is Our Moment" by Rep. Keith Ellison, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 27, 2011.

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And judging what is appropriate or not appropriate for a country, I think it is important in particular in judging what is the appropriate economic policy framework, one should take into account the overall political environment and the institutional framework within which economic policy operates.

Lucas Papademos

Country, Thinking, Judging

"Cnbc’s Chief International Correspondent Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Speaks With Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos". Interview with Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, www.cnbc.com. January 15, 2012.

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Any nation that allows the government to dominate its monetary and economic policies will ultimately suffer grave consequences.

James Cook

Government, Suffering, Economic

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In a normal time, I don't think economic policy makes a large difference one way or another. But in times of crisis it makes all the difference in the world.

Mark Zandi

Thinking, Differences, Normal

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Good economic policy requires not so much the bravado to implement drastic change as the strength and wisdom to make reasonable trade-offs over the many years it takes to transform a country's standard of living.

Peter Blair Henry

Country, Years, Economic

Peter Blair Henry (2013). “Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth”, p.7, Hachette UK

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When depression economics prevails, the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply: virtue becomes vice, caution is risky and prudence is folly.

Paul Krugman

Vices, Usual, Virtue

"Depression Economics Returns" by Paul Krugman, www.nytimes.com. November 14, 2008.

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State interference in economic life, which calls itself economic policy, has done nothing but destroy economic life. Prohibitions and regulations have by their general obstructive tendency fostered the growth of the spirit of wastefulness.

Ludwig von Mises

Growth, Done, Regulation

Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Socialism - An Economic and Sociological Analysis: The Economist”, p.426, VM eBooks

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Economic policies command bipartisan support only when they're incoherent.

Steven Landsburg

Support, Democracy, Economic

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I have always believed that the ultimate purpose of economic policies and development policy is to meet the basic needs of our people. And for that, we need a fast-expanding economy.

Manmohan Singh

People, Needs, Purpose

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I think that one of the things that we all agree to is that the touchstone for economic policy is, does it allow the average American to find good employment and see their incomes rise; that we can't just look at things in the aggregate, we do want to grow the pie, but we want to make sure that prosperity is spread across the spectrum of regions and occupations and genders and races; and that economic policy should focus on growing the pie, but it also has to make sure that everybody has got opportunity in that system.

Barack Obama

Opportunity, Thinking, Race

"After the Great Recession". Interview with David Leonhardt, www.nytimes.com. April 28, 2009.

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The media has brainwashed the electorate to expect the government to do something. The best economic policy of any government is to do nothing but reduce the size of the government, reduce the size of the laws, and reduce the size of regulations.

Marc Faber

Government, Media, Law

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It is only through popular consultation and exchange with the people about social and economic policies that we were going to define the strategic direction of Cuba in the next years. To reach prosperous and sustainable socialism, which is our aspiration, we discussed that with the entire population.

Alejandro Castro Espin

Years, People, Population

"The Future of Cuba". Interview with Lasonas Pipinis Velasco, www.counterpunch.org. February 27, 2015.

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Economic policy and decision making do not function in a political vacuum.

Manmohan Singh

Decision, Political, Vacuums

"PM's McKinsey Quarterly Interview". Interview with Rajat K. Gupta, archivepmo.nic.in. 2005.

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It is doubtful that the government knows much more than the public does about how government [Economic] policies will work.

W. Allen Wallis

Government, Doe, Economic

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We've got to ride the global-warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.

Tim Wirth

Kyoto Protocol, Issues, Environmental

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Milton Friedman’s misfortune is that his economic policies have been tried.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Economic, Milton, Policy

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We who live in free market societies believe that growth and prosperity, and ultimately human fulfillment are created from the bottom up, not the government down.

Ronald Reagan

Believe, Government, People

"A MAN TRUE TO HIS WORD".

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After 20 years in Congress, I still believe that smaller government and lower taxes are the most effective economic policies.

Howard Coble

Believe, Government, Years

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To see economic policy as a problem of choice between rival ideologies is the greatest error of our time.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Errors, Choices, Investing

John Kenneth Galbraith (2017). “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went”, p.351, Princeton University Press

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In a democracy the responsibility for the Government's economic policies, which so affect the economy, normally rests with the elected representative of the people: in our case, with the President and the Congress. If these two follow economic policies inimical to the general welfare, they are accountable to the people for their actions on election day. With Federal Reserve independence, however, a body of men exist who control one of the most powerful levers moving the economy and who are responsible to no one.

Wright Patman

Powerful, Moving, Responsibility

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In the usual (though certainly not in every) public decision on economic policy, the choice is between courses that are almost equally good or equally bad. It is the narrowest decisions that are most ardently debated.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Choices, Decision, Usual

"Years of the Modern". Book by J.W. Chase, 1949.

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What was really interesting in his speech, which, by the way, had (inaudible) footnotes - the written version of it - which might be a personal record for Donald Trump - the source of a lot of his numbers on the free trade section of the speech came from an organization called the Economic Policy Institute, which was a think tank or is a think tank that was founded by labor unions to promote the labor unions' point of view on free trade agreements.

Avik Roy

Thinking, Views, Agreement

"'Forbes' Editor: Trump Continues 'Common Rhetorical Line' On Trade Deals". "All Things Considered" with Audie Cornish, www.npr.org. August 8, 2016.

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New Labour was the most short-sighted, self-serving, incompetent, useless, and ineffective government that Britain has ever known.

Liam Fox

Mistake, Government, Self

"Conservative party conference - live" by Andrew Sparrow, www.theguardian.com. October 6, 2010.

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