“The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008)” — Rutger Bregman Future Copy Share Image
“Emancipation of women? Countries with short workweeks consistently top gender-equality rankings.” — Rutger Bregman Feminism Copy Share Image
Almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share. — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
One of my rules for life is: 'When in doubt, assume the best,' because in the end, most people are pretty decent. — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
If we assume the best in people, we can radically redesign our democracy and welfare states. — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
People are always yearning for a bigger story to be part of, it's not enough to live our own private lives. — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
It's one of the tragedies of the modern university that it offers little space to generalists. — Rutger Bregman Education Copy Share Image
“Even so, I think historians have more to offer than perspective on our present woes. The foreign country we call the past… — Rutger Bregman Foreign country Copy Share Image
It's important to make a distinction between the news and journalism. The news is about recent, incidental and sensational events. It's mostly… — Rutger Bregman Events Copy Share Image
A universal basic income would be the best way to give everyone the opportunity to do more unpaid but incredibly important work,… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
“If a political party or a religious sect had even a fraction of the influence that the advertising industry has on us… — Rutger Bregman Advertising industry Copy Share Image
But the underdog socialists' biggest problem isn't that they are wrong. They are not. Their biggest problem is that they're dull. Dull… — Rutger Bregman Biggest problem Copy Share Image
“Not coincidentally, the countries with the shortest workweeks also have the largest number of volunteers and the most social capital.” — Rutger Bregman Social capital Copy Share Image
The great thing about money is that people can use it to buy things they need instead of things self-appointed experts think… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
Nowadays excessive work and pressure are status symbols. Time to oneself is sooner equated with unemployment and laziness, certainly in countries where… — Rutger Bregman Laziness Copy Share Image
“Fighting poverty has huge benefits that we have been blind to until now,” Shafir points out. In fact, he suggests, in addition… — Rutger Bregman Poverty Copy Share Image
A lot of journalists help us to better understand the world by zooming out and sometimes zooming in on a really important… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
But I think 'Love, Actually' has a very realistic view of human nature in line with the latest scientific evidence. The opening… — Rutger Bregman Character Copy Share Image
“Take a Somalian toddler. She has a 20% probability of dying before reaching the age of five. Now compare: American frontline soldiers… — Rutger Bregman Civil war Copy Share Image
A world where wages no longer rise still needs consumers. Middle-class purchasing power has been maintained through loans, loans and more loans.… — Rutger Bregman Inequality Copy Share Image
So I think that good journalism helps you to zoom out, to focus on the structural forces that govern our lives. And… — Rutger Bregman Focus Copy Share Image
The greatest sin of the academic left is that it has become fundamentally aristocratic, writing in bizarre jargon that makes cliches seem… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
A universal basic income means not only that millions of people would receive unconditional cash payments, but also that millions of people… — Rutger Bregman Inequality Copy Share Image
“Giving away free housing, it turned out, was actually a windfall for the state budget. State economists calculated that a drifter living… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
“What we need is a “dashboard” complete with an array of indicators to track the things that make life worthwhile – money… — Rutger Bregman Community service Copy Share Image
“In fact, we are living in an age of biblical prophecies come true. What would have seemed miraculous in the Middle Ages… — Rutger Bregman Life Copy Share Image
“The modern creed – or worse, the belief that there’s nothing left to believe in – makes us blind to the shortsightedness… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
“Free money works. Already, research has correlated unconditional cash disbursements with reductions in crime, child mortality, malnutrition, teenage pregnancy, and truancy, and… — Rutger Bregman Economic growth Copy Share Image
“Even utopias need a tax clause. For example, we could start with a transactions tax to rein in the financial industry. Back… — Rutger Bregman Copy Share Image
“Before the invention of the GDP, economists were rarely quoted by the press, but in the years after World War II they… — Rutger Bregman Economics Copy Share Image
“I’m heartened by our dissatisfaction, because dissatisfaction is a world away from indifference. The widespread nostalgia, the yearning for a past that… — Rutger Bregman Desire Copy Share Image
“In a world that’s getting ever richer, where cows produce more milk and robots produce more stuff, there’s more room for friends,… — Rutger Bregman Business Copy Share Image
“Welcome, in other words, to the Land of Plenty. To the good life, where almost everyone is rich, safe, and healthy. Where… — Rutger Bregman Carbon emissions Copy Share Image
“Of course, there’s no clear line between who creates wealth and who shifts it. Lots of jobs do both. There’s no denying… — Rutger Bregman Bright ideas Copy Share Image
“Countless aid organizations and governments are convinced that they know what poor people need, and invest in schools, solar panels, or cattle.… — Rutger Bregman Education Copy Share Image
“As illusions go, this one is pretty stubborn. When you’re obsessed with efficiency and productivity, it’s difficult to see the real value… — Rutger Bregman Education Copy Share Image
“To calculate the GDP, numerous data points have to be linked together and hundreds of wholly subjective choices made regarding what to… — Rutger Bregman Free time Copy Share Image
“To economists, everything revolves around scarcity - after all, even the biggest spenders can't buy everything. However, the perception of scarcity is… — Rutger Bregman Little time Copy Share Image
“Esther Duflo, a professor at MIT with a strong French accent, likens all this research on development aid to medieval bloodletting.6 The… — Rutger Bregman Bloodletting Copy Share Image
