“We have to acknowledge that the global economic recovery that we started to see in 2009 was the first economic cycle since World War II that was not led by the US, but by China.”— Louis-Vincent Gave
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
Right now, only 2% of Europeans have studied outside of their home country – I would want to raise that to 45%. The provincialism that reigns in so many countries would be considerably lessened if it was just considered normal that you would spend at least a year in some other country.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
These are the kinds of digital services that have been technologically available for 25 years but just haven't been implemented anywhere. Basically, for scalability all you need is more servers.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
If you have a start-up, you start out with an idea, but in 6 months you realise 'that wasn't the right idea'. This is how truly creative companies work. Nobody can do that with EU funding because you are locked-in to your original proposal – and because of that no-one I know in the start-up world wants money from the EU.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
I personally want to throw up every time I hear some completely senseless and baseless statement like 'we need more of Europe, not less'. It means nothing, and those slogans simply drive people crazy – It goes to show the intellectual vacuousness of the people who say them.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
For us, for our people, who were under communist domination, we were comfortable and happy to take on a European identity when we gained independence. Identity is something incredibly personal; and how the individual combines their national and European identity is something they do themselves.
— Toomas Hendrik IlvesFormer President of Estonia & Cybersecurity Pioneer
We believe that entrepreneurship is indispensable for the emergence of innovative companies that allow for the diversification and renewal of our economy, ensuring sustainable economic growth and the creation of qualified employment.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
More important than picking specific industries, what matters is ensuring competitive and innovative companies that are able to compete in international markets.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
Changing the mood has an economic impact superior to many measures because companies and families, when they have more confidence, they act differently.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
We adopted a National Strategy for Entrepreneurship: Startup Portugal. A strategy that aims to make Portugal the ideal space to create, test, fail and try again.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
Portugal is generally perceived as a symbol of tolerance, openness to the world and ability to interact with and serve as a bridge to different societies, cultures and religions.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
Uncertainty and fear are enemies of economic growth. To change motivation, it is important to give hope and make people believe. But also to give concrete results. It is important to value the positive instead of only highlighting the worst.
— Antonio CostaFormer Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)
In the advanced countries, it is a very challenging time for people in the middle-income and middle-education range. They are being subjected to greater competition from labour saving technology.
— Michael SpenceNobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president
There are cultures in which a young man, to signal his interest in a woman, would camp outside her house for any number of days. The ones who aren't really interested say, '...to hell with it, it's not worth it!' – In this sense, signalling screens people out.
— Michael SpenceNobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president
If very damaging, asymmetries can destroy markets- causing them to unwind from the top- this is the adverse selection problem. People with high quality products remove them from the market due to the price being an average… the quality drops, then the price drops again.. and you end up with a cycle.
— Michael SpenceNobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president
I grew up in Canada and have a lot of friends in Argentina. In the early part of the 20th Century, Argentina was wealthier and had a higher per-capita income than Canada. The country had severe governance issues which impacted economic and social development.
— Michael SpenceNobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president
There are two basic underlying reasons economies slow down. Firstly dysfunctional politics and secondly economic mistakes.
— Michael SpenceNobel Prize-winning economist; Stanford provost and NYU president