Quotes About Economics

'Freakonomics' began with a 'N.Y. Times Magazine' profile I wrote about Steve Levitt. I was working on a book about 'the psychology of money,' and since Levitt's an economist, my editor thought I'd be the guy to write about him. Fact is that Levitt has almost no interest in either psychology or money.

In countries like India or China, a Steve Jobs will never come around. The fundamentals aren't there - there's this feudal hierarchy.

Good owners aren't buying franchises because they think it's a good economic deal. They're buying franchises because they're a huge fan of the sport and they want to be a steward of that team. If they just do it because of a good economic deal, they're going to be bad owners.

In the private sector, you have a budget and you stick to it.

We were all hit with sticker shock: $87 billion is a huge number.

We are living in a globalised world and most of us are worried stiff about powerful interest groups steadily pushing India towards obscurantist and fundamentalist beliefs and regressive economic policies.

The truth of the matter of is that stimulus money not only doesn't stimulate; it actually reduces output.

As a former member of President Obama's economic team, I have a soft spot for the fiscal stimulus legislation he signed just a month after his inauguration.

I think the only thing that really can be done - it would be painful, but less painful than the calamity we're heading toward - is to demand that people be responsible for their private obligations. No more bailouts, no more stimulus, no cash for clunkers.

It would require more hands to manage a stock of sheep, gather them from the hills, force them into houses and folds, and drive them to markets, than the profits of the whole stock were capable of maintaining.

If you're going to sell stock and somebody wants to buy it at a price and that price is not a price you dictate, but demand dictates, sell it to them now.

The E.U. needs Britain more than Britain needs the E.U. The London Stock Exchange is one of the most powerful financial centers in the world. Frankfurt will never replace it.

Whether you're earning income because you have money sitting in the bank or a stock account somewhere, you should be taxed on that income fairly and the same.

The stock market is a discounter of all known information.

If Congress continues to sit on its hands, and the drug companies continue to stash cash in their stockings, Americans will be forever bound in the Jacob Marley-like chains of high prices.

In commodities, when prices go up, demand goes down. In stocks, when prices go up, demand goes up.

When growth is slower-than-expected, stocks go down. When inflation is higher-than-expected, bonds go down. When inflation is lower-than-expected, bonds go up.

Everyone recognizes that's a joke because obviously the number and shape of the pieces doesn't affect the size of the pizza. And similarly, the stocks, bonds, warrants, etc., issued don't affect the aggregate value of the firm.

If I am a trader, and I know you have got ample stocks, why should I buy?

The possessions of the rich are stolen property.

The reason socialism has failed around the world every time it's been tried is because people in socialist countries have looked at the United States and have said if they can have it that good, we can. It's a failed, flawed ideology, but if you ask socialists why it's always failed, it's because the United States has stood in the way.

The day after Donald Trump was elected, Chinese business leaders, including the heads of Baidu, stood up and gave a speech saying, 'Come to China and build your company now.' The cognitive dissonance of that was amazing for some of us to think we might be losing our leadership role in building companies.

I think that, especially among conservatives, there's a clear understanding that there are three legs to the conservative stool. There are the free-market economics conservatives, the social conservatives, and the national-security conservatives.

The pollution problem is always seen as someone who was doing something bad that has to be stopped. To me, pollution is doing something bad and good. People don't pollute because they like polluting. They do it because it's a cheaper way of producing something else.