Unlike real money, they are decentralised and transactions are free; no bank in the middle taking their slice and nothing central to fail.
— Kate Craig-Wood“History is not linear, like the chapters of a book… History moves through seasons, and so winters are inevitable.”— Garry Kasparov
The quote archive
Economics
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
Crypto-currency is a means by which people can exchange property in a secure way without the use of a central institution like a bank or the Federal Reserve.
— Prof. Campbell HarveyDuke Finance Professor & Co-Developer of Campbell Harvey Market Timing Model
Entrepreneurs and investors must make discrete choices, often with quite incomplete information and uncertainty about the future, about which ideas to progress and which to shut down. Financiers rather than markets dictate which projects are realized, as they choose which experiments to attempt, how to interpret the results, and whether to continue or abandon the investment.
— William R. KerrLoose monetary policy today may be setting up the conditions for a jobless recovery in the future. Even today, the outlines of such a situation are already visible. The knowledge that weaker demand for labour lies ahead affects consumption demand directly and indirectly, as it puts further downward pressure on wages.
— Joseph E. StiglitzNobel Prize-Winning Economist & Critic of Globalization
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.
— Joseph E. StiglitzNobel 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.
— Joseph E. StiglitzNobel 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.
— Joseph E. StiglitzNobel Prize-Winning Economist & Critic of Globalization
To make those markets work well, they have to make the market thick, they have to attract enough participants to get good transaction levels. They have to deal with the problem of congestion that can be symptomatic of thick markets. You have to also make the market safe enough for people to transact in!
— Alvin E. RothNobel Prize-winning economist specializing in market design theory
I use the word repugnance to describe transactions that some people would like to engage in, that other people would not like them to; it's often hard to pin-down what harm the transaction does to anyone else.
— Alvin E. RothNobel Prize-winning economist specializing in market design theory
You only get to really redesign markets root and branch when they are failing so dramatically that everyone acknowledges it. Markets are a little like language. It's hard to change the spelling of certain words in the English language, even though those spellings are dysfunctional.
— Alvin E. RothNobel Prize-winning economist specializing in market design theory
Markets are human artefacts; however we often treat them as natural phenomenon in the same way we might treat a language. Markets are emergent phenomenon too, but individual market-places have proprietors and groups of users and therefore markets are more amenable to change. When something isn't working, we can change the rules!
— Alvin E. RothNobel Prize-winning economist specializing in market design theory
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.
— Richard A. EasterlinEconomist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness
Happiness is a measure that reflects the success with which people achieve their personal objectives of living levels, happy and healthy families and satisfying work.
— Richard A. EasterlinEconomist 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
— Richard A. EasterlinEconomist known for the Easterlin Paradox on income and happiness
Always remember – it's best to own 10% of a big number, than all of nothing!
— UnknownManagement that is forced into near time results and paybacks is not tuned for the sort of messages that design has to offer––those of long term customer relationships, of innovative approaches to creating desirable uniqueness.
— Chris BangleBMW Chief Designer; Revolutionized Automotive Design Language in 2000s