Paradoxically, the best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Procrastination also can be a way of self-handicapping: if you don't do a great job, you can always say to yourself, "If… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
A general principle of good taxation is that similar jobs, and similar kinds of compensation, should be taxed the same way: otherwise,… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
I do think to some extent multitasking is a way of fooling ourselves that we're being exceptionally efficient. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Unlike most government programs, Social Security and, in part, Medicare are funded by payroll taxes dedicated specifically to them. Some of the… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
I started in business journalism from the outside, so when I started writing about markets and business, I was struck by the… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
In industries where a lot of competitors are selling the same product - mangoes, gasoline, DVD players - price is the easiest… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, there is something of a flaw in this idealized picture of the way the scientific community discovers truth. And the flaw… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
On the simplest level, telecommuting makes it harder for people to have the kinds of informal interactions that are crucial to the… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The typical American corporation is a shareholders' republic the same way that China is a peoples' republic. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Wall Street has come a long way from the insider-dominated world that was blown apart by the Great Depression. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
A long-term crisis, after a certain point, no longer seems like a crisis. It seems like the way things are. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Critics of consumer capitalism like to think that consumers are manipulated and controlled by those who seek to sell them things, but… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromising. An… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Lack of confidence, sometimes alternating with unrealistic dreams of heroic success, often leads to procrastination, and many studies suggest that procrastinators are self-handicappers: rather… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Downsizing itself is an inevitable part of any creatively destructive economy. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
In the business world, bad news is usually good news - for somebody else. — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
You might think of consumption as a fairly passive activity, but buying new products and services is actually pretty risky, at least if you… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Corporations hope that the right concept will turn things around overnight. This is what you might call the crash-diet approach: starve yourself for a… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Instead of mindlessly tossing billions at or taking billions from the Net as such, investors should be spending their time making sure that it's… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
If you thought the advent of the Internet, the spread of cheap and efficient information technology, and the growing fragmentation of the consumer market… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
The financial crisis of 2008 was not caused by investment banks betting against the housing market in 2007. It was caused by the fact… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
A consumer-finance agency is a good thing, but it would do well to teach consumers a simple lesson: if you don't understand the deal… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
What corporations fear is the phenomenon now known, rather inelegantly, as 'commoditization.' What the term means is simply the conversion of the market for… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
Making loans and fighting poverty are normally two of the least glamorous pursuits around, but put the two together and you have an economic… — James Surowiecki Copy Share Image
