Economics Quotes - Page 7

• Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.

  Milton Friedman

  Government, Liberty, Libertarian

  Quoted in Cleveland Plain Dealer, 27 Oct. 1993

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• The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.

  Vladimir Lenin

  Interesting, Distribution Of Wealth, Way

  "Lenin's Lesson for Frequent Fliers" by Matthew C. Klein, www.bloomberg.com. September 26, 2013.

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• The first thing you have to know is yourself. A man who knows himself can step outside himself and watch his own reactions like an observer.

  Adam Smith

  Men, Watches, Firsts

  Adam Smith (2015). “The Money Game”, p.24, Open Road Media

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• No very deep knowledge of economics is usually needed for grasping the immediate effects of a measure; but the task of economics is to foretell the remoter effects, and so to allow us to avoid such acts as attempt to remedy a present ill by sowing the seeds of a much greater ill for the future.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Liberty, Tasks, Sowing

  Ludwig von Mises (2013). “The Theory of Money and Credit”, p.14, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.

  Adam Smith

  Happiness, Selfish, Men

  Adam Smith (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)”, p.19, Delphi Classics

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• If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.

  John Maynard Keynes

  Humble, People, Would Be

  John Maynard Keynes (1952). “Essays in Persuasion”

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• It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

  Adam Smith

  Progressive Taxation, Rich, Should

  Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.355

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• Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality.

  John Tyler

  Inspirational Life, Presidential, Saving

  First annual message to Congress, June 01, 1841.

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• The real wealth of a nation is its people. And the purpose of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives. This simple but powerful truth is too often forgotten in the pursuit of material and financial wealth.

  Mahbub ul Haq

  Life, Truth, Powerful

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• There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

  Richard P. Feynman

  Stars, Learning, Science

  "Richard P. Feynman, Teacher". David L. Goodstein, "Physics Today", Volume 42, No. 2, February 1989.

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• The use of mathematics has brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it has also brought mortis.

  Robert Heilbroner

  Rigor Mortis, Use, Mathematics

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• If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Inspirational, Humor, Thinking

  P. J. O'Rourke (2007). “Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut”, p.228, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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• Big-government economics breeds crony capitalism. It's corrupt, anything but neutral, and a barrier to broad participation in prosperity.

  Paul Ryan

  Government, Prosperity, Cronies

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• Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.

  Ayn Rand

  Decision, Liberty, Force

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• 'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  War, Historical, Liberty

  "Law, Legislation and Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek. Volume 3: "The Political Order of a Free People". Chapter 17: "A Model Constitution", 1973.

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• The great danger to the consumer is the monopoly -whether private or governmental. His most effective protection is free competition at home and free trade throughout the world. The consumer is protected from being exploited by one seller by the existence of another seller from whom he can buy and who is eager to sell to him. Alternative sources of supply protect the consumer far more effectively than all the Ralph Naders of the world.

  Milton Friedman

  Home, Competition, Alternatives

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• Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is either a madman or an economist.

  David Attenborough

  Thinking, Mad, Growth

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• Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rick as what they are -- a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told.

  Ha-Joon Chang

  Cutting, Simple, Doe

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• Economists who adhere to rational-expectations models of the world will never admit it, but a lot of what happens in markets is driven by pure stupidity - or, rather, inattention, misinformation about fundamentals, and an exaggerated focus on currently circulating stories.

  Robert J. Shiller

  Expectations, Focus, Stupidity

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• I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

  Adam Smith

  Government, Invisible Hand, Economic Order

  1776 An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, bk.4, ch.3.

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• Litmus test: If you can't describe Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage and explain why people find it counterintuitive, you don't know enough about economics to direct any criticism or praise at "capitalism" because you don't know what other people are referring to when they use that word.

  Eliezer Yudkowsky

  Law, People, Criticism

  Comment as Eliezer Yudkowsky @yudkowsky, www.facebook.com. June 10, 2012.

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• Economics is a social science, not a physical science.

  Jim Stanford

  Social, Social Science, Physical Science

  Jim Stanford (2008). “Economics for everyone: a short guide to the economics of capitalism”, Pluto Pr

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• An idea is only an idea if it causes unease, debate and reflection. By that standard, Thomas Homer-Dixon's concept of an 'ingenuity gap' is truly a new idea. I can think of no other new concept that so fully condenses all of the challenges we face as a human civilization than the 'ingenuity gap'. Homer-Dixon has found a way to unite all of our concerns about economics, war, population growth, complexity, etc. under a single heading. He is one of an elite group of academics who can write for a mass audience.

  Robert D. Kaplan

  War, Writing, Reflection

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• [On being first black woman to earn a PhD in economics and first black woman admitted to Pennsylvania bar:] I never looked for anybody to hold the door open for me. I knew well that the only way I could get that door open was to knock it down: because I knocked all of them down.

  Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

  Doors, Black, Pennsylvania

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• Enforced by genetics, sexual reproduction, perspective, and experience, the most manifest characteristic of human beings is their diversity. The freer an economy is, the more this human diversity of knowledge will be manifested. By contrast, political power originates in top-down processes-governments, monopolies, regulators, and elite institutions- all attempting to quell human diversity and impose order. Thus power always seeks centralization.

  George Gilder

  Government, Order, Top Down

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