Paul Krugman Quotes

75 quotes in 1397 categories

• Every once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet. If you've been following climate science, you know what I mean:…
• We know that advanced economies with stable governments that borrow in their own currency are capable of running up very high levels of debt without…
• However, the fact that an economist offers a theoretical analysis does not and should not automatically command respect. What is needed is some assurance that…
• The economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth.
• The problem isn't that people don't understand how good things are. It's that they know, from personal experience, that things really aren't that good.
• People respond to incentives. If unemployment becomes more attractive because of the unemployment benefit, some unemployed workers may no longer try to find a job…
• Generous unemployment benefits can increase both structural and frictional unemployment. So government policies intended to help workers can have the undesirable side effect of raising…
• Raising the minimum wage and lowering the barriers to union organization would carry a trade-off - higher unemployment. A better idea is to have the…
• I've always believed that a speculative bubble need not lead to a recession, as long as interest rates are cut quickly enough to stimulate alternative…
• In fact, I'd say that the sources of the economy's expansion from 2003 to 2007 were, in order, the housing bubble, the war, and -…
• Governments do not necessarily act in the national interest, especially when making detailed microeconomic interventions. Instead, they are influenced by interest group pressures. The kinds…
• It should be possible to emphasize to students that the level of employment is a macroeconomic issue, depending in the short run on aggregate demand…
• Close the weak banks and impose serious capital requirements on the strong ones...You see, it may sound hard-hearted, but you cannot keep unsound financial institutions…
• The economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working…
• If you had to explain America's economic success with one word, that word would be "education".... Until now, the results of educational neglect have been…
• The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.
• The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in 'Metcalfe's law'–which states that the number of potential connections in a network is…
• The habit of disguising ideology as expertise has created a deficit of legitimacy.
• So what are the effects of increasing minimum wages? Any Econ 101 student can tell you the answer: The higher wage reduces the quantity of…
• Friedrich Hayek is not an important figure in the history of macroeconomics.

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