Politics

There are many in Europe and America who believe that our current troubles arise from excess debt, at both the household and national level. Those focusing on debt at the national level have warned that debt financed spending will in the long run be counterproductive.

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist & Critic of Globalization

While the crisis made the problems of the euro-structure clear, they were present long before. Indeed, the euro helped create the crisis: for the markets seemed to have vastly overestimated the extent to which the single market/single currency had reduced risk (another example of market irrationality), leading to excessive lending to the afflicted countries.

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist & Critic of Globalization

The representative agent model (and its descendants) imposed a straightjacket that made it difficult to think clearly about what was going on [in the economy]… To me [Stiglitz], the strangest aspect of modern macroeconomics was that the central banks were using a model in which banks and financial markets played no role.

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist & Critic of Globalization

The countries where people are happiest are ones which are much more domestically oriented and not seeking world-power.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

Research has shown that when you compare the effect of a 1% change in unemployment rate and 1% change in the inflation rate; a 1% increase in unemployment has a bigger impact on people's happiness than a 1% increase in inflation.

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

GDP and GNP shouldn't be scrapped, they're of value, but they don't even give us an indication of economic well-being let alone individual well-being

Economist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness

The law is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve justice. When the law fails to deliver justice, we must be willing to reform the law, not abandon the pursuit of justice.

Former Master of the Rolls & English judicial law reform pioneer

Freedom of expression isn't just about protecting popular speech - it's about creating the conditions where unpopular ideas can challenge power and where dissent can flourish without fear.

Voice actor best known for voicing Megatron in Transformers series

Society at large only sporadically pays attention to the extraordinarily despair-producing conditions in which young black poor youth attempt to survive.

Hip-hop scholar and cultural critic; author of "Black Noise

British identity is profoundly tied-up with Europe and vice-versa.

Historian specializing in German history and British foreign policy

The EU needs reform. Countries have transferred jurisdiction over legislations to a centre that makes decisions in somewhat of a vacuum, featuring a European Parliament that cannot itself initiate legislation. We have a paradox therefore where national parliaments give certain powers to the centre, without being compensated through the creation of an essential federal sovereignty.

Greek Finance Minister during eurozone debt crisis negotiations

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not just a document - it's a promise we made to every child on this planet that they matter, that their voices count.

UN expert on child rights and protection, former Swiss judge

For the first time in over 20 years, I feel brown… I find myself being extra careful in terms of how I dress, where I go, how I speak, what I carry and how I behave; not to conform to any new social norms- but rather, so that people don't mistake me for a terrorist.

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.

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.

Prime Minister of Portugal (2015-2024)

More girls have been killed in the past fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the battles of the twentieth century.

Pulitzer Prize Winner & Co-Author of Half the Sky