Over time, the welfare state has become dysfunctional in a surprising way. But in a way it became a victim of its own success: It became so successful at prolonging life, that it becomes financially unsustainable, unless you make major… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“I wrote this book because I had formed a strong impression that the people currently living were paying insufficient attention to the dead.” — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“Consider this: the US economy created 2.4 million jobs in the three years beginning in June 2009. In the same period, 3.3 million Americans were awarded disabled worker benefits. The percentage of working-age Americans collecting disability insurance has risen from below three percent in 1990 to six percent. Unemployment is being concealed – and rendered permanent – in ways all… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share
I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“Is it better today to be in a network, which gives you influence, than in a hierarchy, which gives you power?” — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
As a teacher, my strategy is to encourage questioning. I'm the least authoritarian professor you'll ever meet. — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
Ask me not, 'Are you rightwing,' but ask me 'Are you a committed believer in individual freedom, the values of the enlightenment?' Then, yeah,… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“Many historians still tend to assume that the spread of an idea or an ideology is a function of its inherent content in relation… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“the twentieth century ran a series of experiments, imposing quite different institutions on two sets of Germans (in West and East), two sets of… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“Historians are not scientists. They cannot (and should not even trying to) establish universal laws of social or political "physics" with reliable predictive powers.… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
You really struggle to be a successful empire if you are also the world's biggest debtor. — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
“One difficulty is that we cannot always reconstruct the past thoughts of these non-Western peoples, for not all of them existed in civilizations with… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
If young men have jobs - or the prospects of jobs - they are less likely to take up arms, they are less likely… — Niall Ferguson Copy Share Image
