2214 quotes by economists for you to enjoy

Unprecedented technological capabilities combined with unlimited human creativity have given us tremendous power to take on intractable problems like poverty, unemployment, disease, and environmental degradation. Our challenge is to translate this extraordinary potential into meaningful change. Muhammad Yunus

Environmental Change Creativity Problems Challenge Poverty Power Extraordinary Tremendous Our Unlimited Intractable Degradation Unprecedented Given Potential Take Combined Like Unemployment Disease Human Capabilities Translate Meaningful Us Technological

All human beings are born entrepreneurs. Some get a chance to unleash that capacity. Some never got the chance, never knew that he or she has that capacity. Muhammad Yunus

Unleash Some Born Entrepreneurs Never He He Or She Knew She Got Get Human Human Beings Capacity Beings Chance

Private philanthropy is the direct expression of the great Christian principle of the brotherhood of man and the Golden Rule. Private philanthropy indeed is the only valid expression of these ethical principles; compulsory charity through 'social legislation' is the exact contrary: it is the evil imposition of force by one group on another. Murray Rothbard

Great Man Charity Evil Group Christian Philanthropy Valid Rule Indeed Exact Brotherhood Direct Only Compulsory Through Force Principle Principles Another Private Imposition Contrary Legislation The Golden Rule Golden Golden Rule Social Ethical Expression

The Keynesian prescription for unemployment rests on the persistence of a 'money illusion' among workers, i.e., on the belief that while, through unions and government, they will keep money wage rates from falling, they will also accept a fall in real wage rates via higher prices. Murray Rothbard

Government Persistence Money Illusion Will Fall Unions Rates Rests Higher Through Prices Also Accept Real Wage Falling Unemployment Via While Workers Belief Keep Among Prescription

The majority is not society, is not everyone. Majority coercion over the minority is still coercion. Murray Rothbard

Minority Society Everyone Over Majority Still Coercion

Lacking the direct test of success or failure, the voter tends to turn, not to those politicians whose measures have the best chance of success, but to those with the ability to 'sell' their propaganda. Without grasping logical chains of deduction, the average voter will never be able to discover the error that the ruler makes. Murray Rothbard

Success Best Failure Logical Will Politicians Ruler Those Ability Able Propaganda Direct Tends Never Voter Without Makes Test Discover Error Sell Lacking Turn Average Deduction Measures Grasping Chains Whose Chance

Tied up with his dismissal of natural law is Hayek's continuous, and all-pervasive, attack on reason. Reason is his bete noire, and time and time again, from numerous and even contradictory standpoints, he opposes it. Murray Rothbard

Time Natural Law Numerous Attack Hayek He Tied Time And Time His Continuous Up Contradictory Again Reason Even

A futures contract is a derivative, but the futures exchange doesn't call them 'derivatives,' they call them 'futures.' Myron Scholes

Futures Exchange Call Contract Them Derivative Derivatives

Jobs offshoring began with manufacturing, but the rise of the high-speed Internet made it possible to move offshore tradable professional skills, such as software engineering, information technology, various forms of engineering, architecture, accounting, and even the medical reading of MRIs and CT-Scans. Paul Craig Roberts

Technology Architecture Internet Made Reading Engineering Software Possible Jobs Rise Various High-Speed Began Accounting Offshore Move Information Information Technology Forms Skills Manufacturing Professional Even Medical

What we know about the global financial crisis is that we don't know very much. Paul Samuelson

Financial Financial Crisis Crisis About Global Know Very Much

Economics is not an exact science. It's a combination of an art and elements of science. And that's almost the first and last lesson to be learned about economics: that in my judgment, we are not converging toward exactitude, but we're improving our data bases and our ways of reasoning about them. Paul Samuelson

In this age of specialization, I sometimes think of myself as the last 'generalist' in economics, with interests that range from mathematical economics down to current financial journalism. My real interests are research and teaching. Paul Samuelson

Myself Age Financial Sometimes Economics Research Down Think Range Journalism Real Mathematical Current Interests Teaching Specialization Last

Today we see how utterly mistaken was the Milton Friedman notion that a market system can regulate itself... Everyone understands now, on the contrary, that there can be no solution without government. Paul Samuelson

Today Government Market On The Contrary Everyone System Solution See Mistaken Without Understands How Itself Contrary Notion Regulate Now Utterly Milton

It is the central bank governor, unlike other regulators or government secretaries, who has command over significant policy levers and has to occasionally disagree with the most powerful people in the country. Raghuram Rajan

The American political scientist Francis Fukuyama has argued that liberal democracies, with their political freedom and economic success, have three important pillars: a strong government, the rule of law, and democratic accountability. I would add a fourth: free markets. Raghuram Rajan

Success Government Freedom Democracy Strong Law Political Free Three Important Accountability Add Liberal Rule Francis Rule Of Law Markets Would Economic Free Markets Argued Democratic Pillars Scientist Political Freedom American Fourth

The special sphere of finance within economics is the study of allocation and deployment of economic resources, both spatially and across time, in an uncertain environment. To capture the influence and interaction of time and uncertainty effectively requires sophisticated mathematical and computational tools. Robert C. Merton

Finance Time Economics Tools Resources Sphere Uncertain Uncertainty Both Economic Computational Allocation Environment Study Sophisticated Within Mathematical Effectively Influence Interaction Deployment Across Requires Special Capture

I think in the case of my father, in terms of the things that influenced me, he never pressed me to go into academics or pressed me to go to a field, and indeed, my behavior was largely to move as far the other direction. I don't think that's uncommon with people with very successful parents. Robert C. Merton

Me People Behavior Father Parents Field Think Other Indeed Pressed Case Direction Uncommon Never He Academics Terms Go Very Move Influenced Far Successful Largely Things

So why don't nurses do home visits to Americans with acute conditions? Hospitals aren't paid for it. Robert Reich

Home Nurses Visits Hospitals Conditions American Paid Why Acute

The 'free market' is the product of laws and rules continuously emanating from legislatures, executive departments, and courts. Robert Reich

Free Market Rules Laws Free Market Executive Courts Continuously Departments Product

No company can be expected to build a nuclear reactor, an oil well, a coal mine, or anything else that's one hundred percent safe under all circumstances. The costs would be prohibitive. It's unreasonable to expect corporations to totally guard against small chances of every potential accident. Robert Reich

Build Accident Every Guard Else Hundred Mine Corporations Circumstances Would Would-Be Totally Percent Small Costs Potential Unreasonable Safe Well Expect Expected Oil Anything Anything Else Against Coal Company Nuclear Chances

The law of property determines who owns something, but the market determines how it will be used. Ronald Coase

Property Law Will Market Something Determines How Owns Used Who

Quotes by Economists