Economics Quotes
More Economics Quotes
To balance Fortune by a just expense, Join with Economy, Magnificence.
Alexander Pope— Alexander Pope, Moral Essays (1731-35), Epistle III, line 223.
A few weeks ago I had a revelation and told my secretary that I could give him a synthesis of forty-six years of living with economic policy. It is: 'Economic policy is random with respect to the performance of the American economy, but, thank God, there isn't much of it.'
Herbert Stein— 1979 Washington Bedtime Stories.
Once the true relationship between inflation and unemployment is understood, with luck and skill, a free lunch is possible.
paul ormerod— The Death of Economics, Part II, Chapter 6: Unemployment and Inflation (1994, p. 137)
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
dwight Eisenhower
About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
herbert hoover— Quoted in obituaries (20 October 1964)
A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.
will durant— Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, Epilogue, p. 665 (1944)
Economics is on the side of humanity now.
— Isaac Asimov, in The Currents of Space (1952)
95% of Economics is common sense deliberately made complicated.
— Ha-Joon Chang, in a lecture at the RSA about his book 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, September 2010.
If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn't go and look at horses. They'd sit in their studies and say to themselves, "what would I do if I were a horse?"
— Ronald Coase, in a speech to the "International Society of New Institutional Economics" the 17 September 1999, Washington DC. He claims he was quoting fellow economist Ely Devons which reportedly said this in a meeting.
Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Yes? Well socialism is exactly the reverse.
len deighton— Len Deighton, Funeral in Berlin (1964; repr. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966) p. 145
— Described there as a joke current in 1960s Czechoslovakia
Economists are tellers of stories and makers of poems.
— Donald McClouskey, Storytelling in Economics (1990)
It is no coincidence that the novel and economics science were born at the same time.
— Donald McClouskey, Storytelling in Economics (1990)
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
— Joan Robinson, “Marx, Marshall And Keynes” (1955), Occasional Paper No. 9, The Delhi School of Economics, University Of Delhi, Delhi.
Too often in recent history liberal governments have been wrecked on rocks of loose fiscal policy.
— Franklin Delano Roosevelt, request to Congress to effect drastic economies in the government (March 10, 1933); in The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 (1938), p. 50.
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.
— Ezra Solomon, as quoted in Psychology Today (March 1984); also attributed to John Kenneth Galbraith in U.S. News & World Report (7 March 1988), p. 64.
Emas non quod non opus est, sed quod necesse est. Quod non opus est, asse carum est.
— Buy not what you want, but what you have need of; what you do not want is dear at a farthing.
— Cato; as quoted by Seneca, Epistles, 94.
Magnum vectigal est parsimonia.
— Economy is a great revenue.
— Cicero, Paradoxa, VI. 3. 49.
Cut my cote after my cloth.
— Godly Queene Hester, Interlude (1530). Expression said to be a relic of the Sumptuary Laws.
Give not Saint Peter so much, to leave Saint Paul nothing.
George Herbert— George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651).
By robbing Peter he paid Paul, he kept the moon from the wolves, and was ready to catch larks if ever the heavens should fall.
— François Rabelais, Works, Book I, Chapter XI. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Westminster Abbey was called St. Peter's! St. Paul's funds were low and sufficient was taken from St. Peter's to settle the account. Expression found in Collier's Reprint of Thomas Nash, Have with you to Saffron-Walden, p. 9.
Economy, the poor man's mint.
martin farquhar tupper— Martin Farquhar Tupper, Proverbial Philosophy, Of Society, line 191.
Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities.
Pope Francis
Multinational companies are beneficial to our society as they continue to help the economy grow.
hillary clinton—
But I believe in fair trade, and I will tell you, I have many, many friends heading up corporations, and people that do just business in China, they say it's virtually impossible. It's very, very hard to come into China. And yet, we welcome them with open arms.
Donald Trump
Going to college and finding a good job no longer guarantees economic safety.
Elizabeth warren— American academic and politician
Rising student-loan debt is an economic emergency.
Elizabeth warren— American academic and politician
We need to abandon the economist's notion of the economy as a machine, with its attendant concept of equilibrium. A more helpful way of thinking about the economy is to imagine it as a living organism.
paul ormerod— The Death of Economics, Part II, Chapter 7: Attractor Points (1994, p. 151)
