People Quotes by James Surowiecki

Companies, like people, don't much like to change.

— James Surowiecki

You might say that economic history is the history of people learning to manage risk.

— James Surowiecki

One key to successful group decisions is getting people to pay much less attention to what everyone else is saying.

— James Surowiecki

The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other.

— James Surowiecki

You'll sometimes hear from people that they actually do a better job of getting their work done when they have a lot…

— James Surowiecki

I think people don't understand compound interest because typically no one ever explains it to them and the level of financial literacy…

— James Surowiecki

The problem is that groups are only smart when the people in them are as independent as possible. This is the paradox…

— James Surowiecki

Of course, plenty of people don't think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.

— James Surowiecki

Patrimonial capitalism's legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.

— James Surowiecki

There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of…

— James Surowiecki

The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for…

— James Surowiecki

When Americans are asked to rank professions in terms of honesty and ethics, insurance agents routinely end up near the bottom of…

— James Surowiecki

Now, modern economies have a very effective mechanism for deciding if salaries are really too high: it's called the free market. That's…

— James Surowiecki

Unlike fuel-economy standards, the most common method of reducing demand for oil over the past thirty years, a gas tax doesn't tell…

— James Surowiecki

If someone really wants my company's business, why shouldn't he be able to do everything he can - including paying me off…

— James Surowiecki

I started in business journalism from the outside, so when I started writing about markets and business, I was struck by the…

— James Surowiecki

There are lots of people who believe there may be at least some genetic component to procrastination, and even if there isn't,…

— James Surowiecki

In practice, downsizing is too often about cutting your work force while keeping your business the same, and doing so not by…

— James Surowiecki

The fact that cognitive diversity matters does not mean that if you assemble a group of diverse but thoroughly uninformed people, their…

— James Surowiecki

All things being equal, letting people make decisions for themselves will produce smarter outcomes, collectively, than relying on government planners.

— James Surowiecki

We assume that good-looking people are smarter and more effective than they really are, and that homely people are the reverse.

— James Surowiecki

Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.

— James Surowiecki

Older people do a better job of managing their impulses, and so they're better able to put off putting off.

— James Surowiecki

It may be that the very qualities that help people get ahead are the ones that make them ill-suited for managing crises.…

— James Surowiecki

Being out of a job can erode people's confidence and their sense of possibility; and employers, often unfairly, tend to take long-term…

— James Surowiecki

Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably smart - smarter even sometimes than the smartest people in them.

— James Surowiecki

The fact that industries wax and wane is a reality of any economic system that wants to remain dynamic and responsive to…

— James Surowiecki

Behavioral economists have shown that a sizable percentage of people are willing to pay real money to punish people who are taking…

— James Surowiecki

For a crowd to be smart, the people in it need to be not only diverse in their perspectives but also, relatively…

— James Surowiecki

The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other. Independence…

— James Surowiecki

Intellectual-property rules are clearly necessary to spur innovation: if every invention could be stolen, or every new drug immediately copied, few people…

— James Surowiecki

On the simplest level, telecommuting makes it harder for people to have the kinds of informal interactions that are crucial to the…

— James Surowiecki

Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm - poverty, difficulty paying off debts…

— James Surowiecki

From a social point of view, it's beneficial that homeownership encourages commitment to a given town or city. But, from an economic…

— James Surowiecki

Linux is a complex example of the wisdom of crowds. It's a good example in the sense that it shows you can…

— James Surowiecki

The world's central banks and the International Monetary Fund still have vaults full of bullion, even though currencies are no longer backed…

— James Surowiecki

As technology improves, on-screen avatars look more and more like real people. When they start looking too real, though, we pull away.…

— James Surowiecki

Unfortunately, there is something of a flaw in this idealized picture of the way the scientific community discovers truth. And the flaw…

— James Surowiecki

In terms of productivity - that is, how much a worker produces in an hour - there's little difference between the U.S.,…

— James Surowiecki