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Economics Quotes

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Economics Quotes

“The first essential for economists ... is to ... combat, not foster, the ideology which pretends that values which can be measured in terms of money are the only ones that ought to count.”

Firsts Values Term Ought Essentials Economics Ideology Combat Economist

Book:Economic philosophy

Source: Economic philosophy

“The predominant teachings of this age are that there are no limits to man's capacity to govern others and that, therefore, no limitations ought to be imposed upon government. The older faith, born of long ages of suffering under man's dominion over man, was that the exercise of unlimited power by men with limited minds and self-regarding prejudices is soon oppressive, reactionary, and corrupt. The older faith taught that the very condition of progress was the limitation of power to the capacity and the virtue of rulers.”

“In a world in which the price of calculation continues to decrease rapidly, but the price of theorem proving continues to hold steady or increase, elementary economics indicates that we ought to spend a larger and larger fraction of our time on calculation.”

World Ought Prove Economics Increase Our Time Steady Calculations Fractions Decrease Theorems

Author:John Tukey

“The subjects of every state ought to contribute toward the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state ....As Henry Home (Lord Kames) has written, a goal of taxation should be to 'remedy inequality of riches as much as possible, by relieving the poor and burdening the rich.'”

Should States Home Government Enjoy Goal Ability Poor Lord Support Rich Written Subjects Ought Economics Protection Libertarian Riches Inequality Proportion Remedy Taxation Revenue

Author:Adam Smith

“The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess.”

Men Individual Ought Authority Economics Prize Nobel Nobel Prize

Author:Friedrich August von Hayek

“I think there ought to be some serious discussion by smart people, really smart people, about whether or not proliferation of things like The Smoking Gun and TMZ and YouTube and the whole celebrity culture is healthy. We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based. I mean, I know people who can tell you who won the last four seasons on American Idol and they don't know who their [bleeping] Representatives are.”

“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.”

Inspirational Littles Past Business Ought Economics Assault Few Words Language Words Power Of Language Language And Power

Author:John Maynard Keynes

“Economics was like psychology, a pseudoscience trying to hide that fact with intense theoretical hyperelaboration. And gross domestic product was one of those unfortunate measurement concepts, like inches or the British thermal unit, that ought to have been retired long before.”

Source: Blue Mars

“...the statement, "The purpose of the law is to cause justice to reign," is not a rigorously accurate statement. It ought to be stated that the purpose of the law is to prevent injustice from reigning. In fact, it is injustice, instead of justice, that has an existence of its own. Justice is achieved only when injustice is absent.”

Facts Law Purpose Causes Justice Existence Liberty Economic Ought Economics Injustice Statements Accurate Reign Absent

Book:The Law

Source: The Law

“Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin... Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them but leave them the power to create money, and, with the flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again... Take this great power away from them and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for then this would be a better and happier world to live in... But, if you want to continue to be a slave of the bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers continue to create money and control credit.”

“In my opinion, economists and sociologists are the people to whom we ought to turn more than we do for instruction in the grounds and foundations of all rational decisions.”

People Turns Decision Opinion Ought Economics Foundation Rational Instruction Economist Sociologists Rational Decisions

Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“If you don’t want to cry about the state of the economy, why not laugh instead? This book is an ideal introduction to the subject for anybody who thinks they ought to understand what’s happening around them but is put off by the usual dense text and economics jargon.”

Ifs Thinking Want Book States Laughing Economy Subjects Cry Ought Happenings Ideals Economics Why Not Usual Introduction Dense Jargon

Author:Diane Coyle