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Quote by Kenneth E. Boulding

“Equilibrium is a figment of the human imagination.”

Quote by Kenneth E. Boulding

Book:Collected Papers: Toward the Twenty-First Century : Political Economy, Social Systems, and World Peace

Work

Collected Papers: Toward the Twenty-First Century : Political Economy, Social Systems, and World Peace

The book encompasses a variety of perspectives and analyses on the complex interplay between political, economic, and social factors that shape global dynamics. It explores the challenges and opportunities for achieving sustainable peace and development in an increasingly interconnected world. more

Author

Kenneth E. Boulding

Kenneth E. Boulding was a renowned economist, born on January 18, 1910, and passed away on March 18, 1993. His research in economics covered a wide range of fields, particularly in general systems theory, conflict theory, and peace studies. more

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“We never like to admit to ourselves that we have made a mistake. Organizational structures tend to accentuate this source of failure of information.”

Made Mistake Information Source Structure Made A Mistake Organizational Accentuate Organizational Structure

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“Human artifacts not only include material structures and objects, such as buildings, machines, and automobiles, but they also include organizations, organizational structures like extended families . . . tribes, nations, corporations, churches, political parties, governments, and so on. Some of these may grow unconsciously, but they all originate and are sustained by the images in the human mind.”

“It is much more accurate to identify the factors of production as know-how (that is genetic information structure), energy, and materials, for, as we have seen, all processes of production involve the direction of energy by some know-how structure toward the selection, transportation, and transformation of materials into the product”

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Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“The perception of potential threats to survival may be much more important in determining behavior than the perceptions of potential profits, so that profit maximization is not really the driving force. It is fear of loss rather than hope of gain that limits our behavior.”

May Important Force Loss Limits Behavior Perception Survival Gains Threat Profit Driving Driving Force Profit Maximization

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“The only religion that still demands human sacrifice is nationalism.”

Humans Stills Sacrifice Demand Nationalism

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“Economists and technologists bring the "bits", but it requires the social scientists and humanists to bring the "wits.”

Social Bits Scientist Wit Economist

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“Conventions of generality and mathematical elegance may be just as much barriers to the attainment and diffusion of knowledge as may contentment with particularity and literary vagueness... It may well be that the slovenly and literary borderland between economics and sociology will be the most fruitful building ground during the years to come and that mathematical economics will remain too flawless in its perfection to be very fruitful.”

Years Wells May Building Economics Perfection Mathematical Contentment Barriers Conventions Sociology Elegance Attainment Flawless Generalities Vagueness Diffusion

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“Thus we seem to be on the verge of an expansion of welfare economics into something like a social science of ethics and politics: what was intended to be a mere porch to ethics is either the whole house or nothing at all. In so laying down its life welfare economics may be able to contribute some of its insights and analytical methods to a much broader evaluative analysis of the whole social process.”

May Whole Seems Able House Social Process Ethics Economics Method Mere Insight Welfare Analysis Expansion Verge Social Science Porch Laying Down

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding

“Theories without facts may be barren, but facts without theories are meaningless.”

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Book:Economic Analysis

Source: Economic Analysis

“The controversy as to whether socialism is possible has been settled by the fact that it exists, and it is a fundamental axiom of my philosophy, at any rate, that anything that exists, is possible.”

Has Beens Philosophy Facts Fundamentals Rate Socialism Controversy Axioms

Author:Kenneth E. Boulding