---
title: "Best Rutger Bregman Quotes"
description: "Rutger Christiaan Bregman is a Dutch journalist, writer, and historian. Browse 164 Rutger Bregman quotes."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10e/rutger-bregman-2463_goals_the-goal-of-the-future-is-full-unemploym_1455290.jpg"
---

# Rutger Bregman

(1988)   Journalist

 **164** quotes in **478** categories

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Rutger Bregman is a journalist.

## Quick Facts About Rutger Bregman

Born April 26, 1988

Profession Journalist

## About Rutger Bregman

Rutger Christiaan Bregman is a Dutch journalist, writer, and historian.

##  Quotes by Rutger Bregman · Page 2

> [“The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/the-goal-of-the-future-is-full-unemployment-so-we-can-play-arthur-c/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10e/rutger-bregman-2463_goals_the-goal-of-the-future-is-full-unemploym_1455290.jpg)

> [“Emancipation of women? Countries with short workweeks consistently top gender-equality rankings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/emancipation-of-women-countries-with-short-workweeks-consistently-top/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Feminism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminism/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/518/rutger-bregman-2463_feminism_emancipation-of-women-countries-with-sho_590770.jpg)

> [Almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/almost-no-one-raises-the-real-issue-of-tax-avoidance-right-and-of-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Avoidance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/avoidance/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/rutger-bregman-2463_avoidance_almost-no-one-raises-the-real-issue-of-t_1488452.jpg)

> [Poverty is not a lack of character. Poverty is a lack of cash.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/poverty-is-not-a-lack-of-character-poverty-is-a-lack-of-cash/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Cash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cash/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/314/rutger-bregman-2463_cash_poverty-is-not-a-lack-of-character-pover_1898482.jpg)

> [One of my rules for life is: 'When in doubt, assume the best,' because in the end, most people are pretty decent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/one-of-my-rules-for-life-is-when-in-doubt-assume-the-best-because-in/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Assume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assume/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/580/rutger-bregman-2463_best_one-of-my-rules-for-life-is-when-in-doub_1955567.jpg)

> [If we assume the best in people, we can radically redesign our democracy and welfare states.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/if-we-assume-the-best-in-people-we-can-radically-redesign-our/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/479/rutger-bregman-2463_best_if-we-assume-the-best-in-people-we-can-r_1838881.jpg)

> [People are always yearning for a bigger story to be part of, it's not enough to live our own private lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/people-are-always-yearning-for-a-bigger-story-to-be-part-of-it-s-not/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/122/rutger-bregman-2463_enough_people-are-always-yearning-for-a-bigger_2118942.jpg)

> [It's one of the tragedies of the modern university that it offers little space to generalists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/it-s-one-of-the-tragedies-of-the-modern-university-that-it-offers/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c3/rutger-bregman-2463_modern_it-s-one-of-the-tragedies-of-the-modern_1631277.jpg)

> [“Even so, I think historians have more to offer than perspective on our present woes. The foreign country we call the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/even-so-i-think-historians-have-more-to-offer-than-perspective-on-our/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Foreign country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foreign-country/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83d/rutger-bregman-2463_foreign-country_even-so-i-think-historians-have-more-to_3219641.jpg)

> [It's important to make a distinction between the news and journalism. The news is about recent, incidental and sensational events. It's mostly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/it-s-important-to-make-a-distinction-between-the-news-and-journalism/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88c/rutger-bregman-2463_events_it-s-important-to-make-a-distinction-bet_2603813.jpg)

> [A universal basic income would be the best way to give everyone the opportunity to do more unpaid but incredibly important work,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/a-universal-basic-income-would-be-the-best-way-to-give-everyone-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Best](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/584/rutger-bregman-2463_best_a-universal-basic-income-would-be-the-be_614796.jpg)

> [“If a political party or a religious sect had even a fraction of the influence that the advertising industry has on us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/if-a-political-party-or-a-religious-sect-had-even-a-fraction-of-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Advertising industry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advertising-industry/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d5/rutger-bregman-2463_advertising-industry_if-a-political-party-or-a-religious-sect_2641012.jpg)

> [But the underdog socialists' biggest problem isn't that they are wrong. They are not. Their biggest problem is that they're dull. Dull…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/but-the-underdog-socialists-biggest-problem-isn-t-that-they-are-wrong/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Biggest problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biggest-problem/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c0/rutger-bregman-2463_even_but-the-underdog-socialists-biggest-prob_1548321.jpg)

> [“Not coincidentally, the countries with the shortest workweeks also have the largest number of volunteers and the most social capital.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/not-coincidentally-the-countries-with-the-shortest-workweeks-also/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Social capital](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-capital/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/837/rutger-bregman-2463_social-capital_not-coincidentally-the-countries-with-th_324323.jpg)

> [The great thing about money is that people can use it to buy things they need instead of things self-appointed experts think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/the-great-thing-about-money-is-that-people-can-use-it-to-buy-things/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/rutger-bregman-2463_great_the-great-thing-about-money-is-that-peop_76695.jpg)

> [Nowadays excessive work and pressure are status symbols. Time to oneself is sooner equated with unemployment and laziness, certainly in countries where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/nowadays-excessive-work-and-pressure-are-status-symbols-time-to/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Laziness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/laziness/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ef/rutger-bregman-2463_laziness_nowadays-excessive-work-and-pressure-are_1440080.jpg)

> [“Fighting poverty has huge benefits that we have been blind to until now,” Shafir points out. In fact, he suggests, in addition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/fighting-poverty-has-huge-benefits-that-we-have-been-blind-to-until/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f98/rutger-bregman-2463_poverty_fighting-poverty-has-huge-benefits-that_3071082.jpg)

> [A lot of journalists help us to better understand the world by zooming out and sometimes zooming in on a really important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/a-lot-of-journalists-help-us-to-better-understand-the-world-by/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a8/rutger-bregman-2463_better_a-lot-of-journalists-help-us-to-better-u_3165426.jpg)

> [But I think 'Love, Actually' has a very realistic view of human nature in line with the latest scientific evidence. The opening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/but-i-think-love-actually-has-a-very-realistic-view-of-human-nature/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/336/rutger-bregman-2463_character_but-i-think-love-actually-has-a-very-rea_500965.jpg)

> [“Take a Somalian toddler. She has a 20% probability of dying before reaching the age of five. Now compare: American frontline soldiers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/take-a-somalian-toddler-she-has-a-20-probability-of-dying-before/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Civil war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-war/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad2/rutger-bregman-2463_civil-war_take-a-somalian-toddler-she-has-a-20-pro_1424736.jpg)

> [A world where wages no longer rise still needs consumers. Middle-class purchasing power has been maintained through loans, loans and more loans.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/a-world-where-wages-no-longer-rise-still-needs-consumers-middle-class/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Inequality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inequality/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ecd/rutger-bregman-2463_inequality_a-world-where-wages-no-longer-rise-still_1972859.jpg)

> [So I think that good journalism helps you to zoom out, to focus on the structural forces that govern our lives. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/so-i-think-that-good-journalism-helps-you-to-zoom-out-to-focus-on-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Focus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/focus/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5b/rutger-bregman-2463_focus_so-i-think-that-good-journalism-helps-yo_1284957.jpg)

> [The greatest sin of the academic left is that it has become fundamentally aristocratic, writing in bizarre jargon that makes cliches seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/the-greatest-sin-of-the-academic-left-is-that-it-has-become/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Fault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fault/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/906/rutger-bregman-2463_fault_the-greatest-sin-of-the-academic-left-is_1351552.jpg)

> [A universal basic income means not only that millions of people would receive unconditional cash payments, but also that millions of people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/a-universal-basic-income-means-not-only-that-millions-of-people-would/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Inequality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inequality/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c06/rutger-bregman-2463_only_a-universal-basic-income-means-not-only_1177694.jpg)

> [“Giving away free housing, it turned out, was actually a windfall for the state budget. State economists calculated that a drifter living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/giving-away-free-housing-it-turned-out-was-actually-a-windfall-for/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Cost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cost/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/366/rutger-bregman-2463_quote_giving-away-free-housing-it-turned-out-w_588228.jpg)

> [“What we need is a “dashboard” complete with an array of indicators to track the things that make life worthwhile – money…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/what-we-need-is-a-dashboard-complete-with-an-array-of-indicators-to/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Community service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community-service/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d64/rutger-bregman-2463_community-service_what-we-need-is-a-dashboard-complete-wit_1867456.jpg)

> [“In fact, we are living in an age of biblical prophecies come true. What would have seemed miraculous in the Middle Ages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/in-fact-we-are-living-in-an-age-of-biblical-prophecies-come-true-what/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/45d/rutger-bregman-2463_life_in-fact-we-are-living-in-an-age-of-bibli_700914.jpg)

> [“The modern creed – or worse, the belief that there’s nothing left to believe in – makes us blind to the shortsightedness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/the-modern-creed-or-worse-the-belief-that-there-s-nothing-left-to/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Every day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-day/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/56b/rutger-bregman-2463_every-day_the-modern-creed-or-worse-the-belief-tha_2496068.jpg)

> [“Free money works. Already, research has correlated unconditional cash disbursements with reductions in crime, child mortality, malnutrition, teenage pregnancy, and truancy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/free-money-works-already-research-has-correlated-unconditional-cash/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Economic growth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economic-growth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/100/rutger-bregman-2463_economic-growth_free-money-works-already-research-has-co_2645869.jpg)

> [“Even utopias need a tax clause. For example, we could start with a transactions tax to rein in the financial industry. Back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/even-utopias-need-a-tax-clause-for-example-we-could-start-with-a/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Five years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five-years/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/rutger-bregman-2463_five-years_even-utopias-need-a-tax-clause-for-examp_2247413.jpg)

> [“Before the invention of the GDP, economists were rarely quoted by the press, but in the years after World War II they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/before-the-invention-of-the-gdp-economists-were-rarely-quoted-by-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Economics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/economics/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e8/rutger-bregman-2463_economics_before-the-invention-of-the-gdp-economis_3216393.jpg)

> [“I’m heartened by our dissatisfaction, because dissatisfaction is a world away from indifference. The widespread nostalgia, the yearning for a past that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/i-m-heartened-by-our-dissatisfaction-because-dissatisfaction-is-a/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/909/rutger-bregman-2463_desire_i-m-heartened-by-our-dissatisfaction-bec_998892.jpg)

> [“In a world that’s getting ever richer, where cows produce more milk and robots produce more stuff, there’s more room for friends,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/in-a-world-that-s-getting-ever-richer-where-cows-produce-more-milk/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55a/rutger-bregman-2463_business_in-a-world-that-s-getting-ever-richer-wh_3035731.jpg)

> [“Welcome, in other words, to the Land of Plenty. To the good life, where almost everyone is rich, safe, and healthy. Where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/welcome-in-other-words-to-the-land-of-plenty-to-the-good-life-where/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Carbon emissions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carbon-emissions/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/793/rutger-bregman-2463_carbon-emissions_welcome-in-other-words-to-the-land-of-pl_2677860.jpg)

> [“Of course, there’s no clear line between who creates wealth and who shifts it. Lots of jobs do both. There’s no denying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/of-course-there-s-no-clear-line-between-who-creates-wealth-and-who/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Bright ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bright-ideas/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/519/rutger-bregman-2463_bright-ideas_of-course-there-s-no-clear-line-between_2386917.jpg)

> [“Countless aid organizations and governments are convinced that they know what poor people need, and invest in schools, solar panels, or cattle.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/countless-aid-organizations-and-governments-are-convinced-that-they/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/651/rutger-bregman-2463_education_countless-aid-organizations-and-governme_2835821.jpg)

> [“As illusions go, this one is pretty stubborn. When you’re obsessed with efficiency and productivity, it’s difficult to see the real value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/as-illusions-go-this-one-is-pretty-stubborn-when-you-re-obsessed-with/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d52/rutger-bregman-2463_education_as-illusions-go-this-one-is-pretty-stubb_950295.jpg)

> [“To calculate the GDP, numerous data points have to be linked together and hundreds of wholly subjective choices made regarding what to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/to-calculate-the-gdp-numerous-data-points-have-to-be-linked-together/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Free time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-time/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf2/rutger-bregman-2463_free-time_to-calculate-the-gdp-numerous-data-point_153672.jpg)

> [“To economists, everything revolves around scarcity - after all, even the biggest spenders can't buy everything. However, the perception of scarcity is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/to-economists-everything-revolves-around-scarcity-after-all-even-the/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Little time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-time/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/631/rutger-bregman-2463_little-time_to-economists-everything-revolves-around_1872938.jpg)

> [“Esther Duflo, a professor at MIT with a strong French accent, likens all this research on development aid to medieval bloodletting.6 The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutger-bregman/esther-duflo-a-professor-at-mit-with-a-strong-french-accent-likens/)

[Rutger Bregman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutger-bregman/)

[Bloodletting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bloodletting/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/781/rutger-bregman-2463_bloodletting_esther-duflo-a-professor-at-mit-with-a-s_2258473.jpg)

## Rutger Bregman by topic

[People (17)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/rutger-bregman/) [Money (15)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/rutger-bregman/) [History (13)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/rutger-bregman/) [World (12)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/rutger-bregman/) [Life (12)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/rutger-bregman/) [Inequality (11)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inequality/rutger-bregman/) [Basic Income (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basic-income/rutger-bregman/) [Work (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/rutger-bregman/) [Poverty (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poverty/rutger-bregman/) [Politics (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/rutger-bregman/) [Education (10)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/rutger-bregman/)

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                        "text": "“Fighting poverty has huge benefits that we have been blind to until now,” Shafir points out. In fact, he suggests, in addition to measuring our gross domestic product, maybe it’s time we also started considering our gross domestic mental bandwidth. Greater mental bandwidth equates to better child-rearing, better health, more productive employees – you name it. “Fighting scarcity could even reduce costs,” projects Shafir.”",
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                        "text": "A lot of journalists help us to better understand the world by zooming out and sometimes zooming in on a really important case but sort of helping us to get a grasp of what are the structural forces that govern our lives and our societies and that is incredibly important.",
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                        "text": "But I think 'Love, Actually' has a very realistic view of human nature in line with the latest scientific evidence. The opening scene, where Hugh Grant's character talks about the arrivals gate at Heathrow, is about friendship and connection, it's about who we really are as a species.",
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                        "text": "“Take a Somalian toddler. She has a 20% probability of dying before reaching the age of five. Now compare: American frontline soldiers had a mortality rate of 6.7% in the Civil War, 1.8% in World War II, and 0.5% in the Vietnam War.30 Yet we won’t hesitate to send that Somalian toddler back if it turns out her mother isn’t a “real” refugee. Back to the Somalian child-mortality front.”",
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                        "text": "A world where wages no longer rise still needs consumers. Middle-class purchasing power has been maintained through loans, loans and more loans. The Calvinistic reflex that you have to work for your money has turned into a license for inequality.",
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                        "text": "So I think that good journalism helps you to zoom out, to focus on the structural forces that govern our lives. And I think that good journalism is also not only about the problems, but also about the solutions, and the people who are working on these solutions.",
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                        "text": "The greatest sin of the academic left is that it has become fundamentally aristocratic, writing in bizarre jargon that makes cliches seem abstruse. If you can't explain your ideal to a fairly intelligent 12-year-old, it's probably your own fault.",
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                        "text": "A universal basic income means not only that millions of people would receive unconditional cash payments, but also that millions of people would have to cough up thousands more in taxes to fund it. This will make basic income politically a harder sell.",
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                        "text": "“Giving away free housing, it turned out, was actually a windfall for the state budget. State economists calculated that a drifter living on the street cost the government $16,670 a year (for social services, police, courts, etc.). An apartment plus professional counseling, by contrast, cost a modest $11,000.30 The numbers are clear. Today, Utah is on course to eliminate chronic homelessness entirely, making it the first state in the U.S. to successfully address this problem. All while saving a fortune.”",
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                        "text": "“What we need is a “dashboard” complete with an array of indicators to track the things that make life worthwhile – money and growth, obviously, but also community service, jobs, knowledge, social cohesion. And, of course, the scarcest good of all: time. “But such a dashboard couldn’t possibly be objective,” you might counter. True. But there’s no such thing as a neutral metric. Behind every statistic is a certain set of assumptions and prejudices. What’s more, those figures – and their assumptions – guide our actions. That’s true of GDP but equally true of the Human Development and Happy Planet indices. And it’s precisely because we need to change our actions that we need new figures to guide us.”",
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                        "text": "“In fact, we are living in an age of biblical prophecies come true. What would have seemed miraculous in the Middle Ages is now commonplace: the blind restored to sight, cripples who can walk, and the dead returned to life. Take the Argus II, a brain implant that restores a measure of sight to people with genetic eye conditions. Or the Rewalk, a set of robotic legs that enables paraplegics to walk again. Or the Rheobatrachus, a species of frog that became extinct in 1983 but, thanks to Australian scientists, has quite literally been brought back to life using old DNA. The”",
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                        "text": "“The modern creed – or worse, the belief that there’s nothing left to believe in – makes us blind to the shortsightedness and injustice that still surround us every day. To give a few examples: Why have we been working harder and harder since the 1980s despite being richer than ever? Why are millions of people still living in poverty when we are more than rich enough to put an end to it once and for all? And why is more than 60% of your income dependent on the country where you just happen to have been born?24 Utopias offer no ready-made answers, let alone solutions. But they do ask the right questions.”",
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                        "text": "“Free money works. Already, research has correlated unconditional cash disbursements with reductions in crime, child mortality, malnutrition, teenage pregnancy, and truancy, and with improved school performance, economic growth, and gender equality.13 “The big reason poor people are poor is because they don’t have enough money,” notes economist Charles Kenny, “and it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that giving them money is a great way to reduce that problem.”",
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                        "text": "“Even utopias need a tax clause. For example, we could start with a transactions tax to rein in the financial industry. Back in 1970, American stocks were still held for an average of five years; forty years later, it’s a mere five days.21 If we imposed a transactions tax – where you would have to pay a fee each time you buy or sell a stock – those high-frequency traders who contribute almost nothing of social value would no longer profit from split-second buying and selling of financial assets. In”",
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                        "text": "“Before the invention of the GDP, economists were rarely quoted by the press, but in the years after World War II they became a fixture in the papers. They had mastered a trick no one else could do: managing reality and predicting the future. Increasingly, the economy was regarded as a machine with levers that politicians could pull to promote “growth.” In 1949, the inventor and economist Bill Phillips even constructed a real machine from plastic containers and pipes to represent the economy, with water pumping around to represent federal revenue flows. As one historian explains, “The first thing you do in 1950s and ’60s if you’re a new nation is you open a national airline, you create a national army, and you start measuring GDP.”",
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                        "text": "“I’m heartened by our dissatisfaction, because dissatisfaction is a world away from indifference. The widespread nostalgia, the yearning for a past that never really was, suggests that we still have ideals, even if we have buried them alive. True progress begins with something no knowledge economy can produce: wisdom about what it means to live well. We have to do what great thinkers like John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, and John Maynard Keynes were already advocating 100 years ago: to “value ends above means and prefer the good to the useful.”",
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                        "text": "“In a world that’s getting ever richer, where cows produce more milk and robots produce more stuff, there’s more room for friends, family, community service, science, art, sports, and all the other things that make life worthwhile. But there’s also more room for bullshit. As long as we continue to be obsessed with work, work, and more work (even as useful activities are further automated or outsourced), the number of superfluous jobs will only continue to grow. Much like the number of managers in the developed world, which has grown over the last thirty years without making us a dime richer. On the contrary, studies show that countries with more managers are actually less productive and innovative.15 In a survey of 12,000 professionals by the Harvard Business Review, half said they felt their job had no “meaning and significance,” and an equal number were unable to relate to their company’s mission.16 Another recent poll revealed that as many as 37% of British workers think they have a bullshit job.17”",
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                        "text": "“Welcome, in other words, to the Land of Plenty. To the good life, where almost everyone is rich, safe, and healthy. Where there’s only one thing we lack: a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Because, after all, you can’t really improve on paradise. Back in 1989, the American philosopher Francis Fukuyama already noted that we had arrived in an era where life has been reduced to “economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands.”18 Notching up our purchasing power another percentage point, or shaving a couple off our carbon emissions; perhaps a new gadget – that’s about the extent of our vision. We live in an era of wealth and overabundance, but how bleak it is. There is “neither art nor philosophy,” Fukuyama says. All that’s left is the “perpetual caretaking of the museum of human history.” According to Oscar Wilde, upon reaching the Land of Plenty, we should once more fix our gaze on the farthest horizon and rehoist the sails. “Progress is the realization of Utopias,” he wrote. But”",
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                        "text": "“Of course, there’s no clear line between who creates wealth and who shifts it. Lots of jobs do both. There’s no denying that the financial sector can contribute to our wealth and grease the wheels of other sectors in the process. Banks can help to spread risks and back people with bright ideas. And yet, these days, banks have become so big that much of what they do is merely shuffle wealth around, or even destroy it. Instead of growing the pie, the explosive expansion of the banking sector has increased the share it serves itself.4 Or take the legal profession. It goes without saying that the rule of law is necessary for a country to prosper. But now that the U.S. has seventeen times the number of lawyers per capita as Japan, does that make American rule of law seventeen times as effective?5 Or Americans seventeen times as protected? Far from it. Some law firms even make a practice of buying up patents for products they have no intention of producing, purely to enable them to sue people for patent infringement. Bizarrely, it’s precisely the jobs that shift money around – creating next to nothing of tangible value – that net the best salaries. It’s a fascinating, paradoxical state of affairs. How is it possible that all those agents of prosperity – the teachers, the police officers, the nurses – are paid so poorly, while the unimportant, superfluous, and even destructive shifters do so well?”",
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                        "text": "“Countless aid organizations and governments are convinced that they know what poor people need, and invest in schools, solar panels, or cattle. And, granted, better a cow than no cow. But at what cost? A Rwandan study estimated that donating one pregnant cow costs around $3,000 (including a milking workshop). That’s five years’ wages for a Rwandan.17 Or take the patchwork of courses offered to the poor: Study after study has shown that they cost a lot but achieve little, whether the objective is learning to fish, read, or run a business.18 “Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of cash. It’s not about stupidity,” stresses the economist Joseph Hanlon. “You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots.”19 The great thing about money is that people can use it to buy things they need instead of things that self-appointed experts think they need. And, as it happens, there is one category of product which poor people do not spend their free money on, and that’s alcohol and tobacco. In fact, a major study by the World Bank demonstrated that in 82% of all researched cases in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, alcohol and tobacco consumption actually declined.20”",
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                        "text": "“As illusions go, this one is pretty stubborn. When you’re obsessed with efficiency and productivity, it’s difficult to see the real value of education and care. Which is why so many politicians and taxpayers alike see only costs. They don’t realize that the richer a country becomes the more it should be spending on teachers and doctors. Instead of regarding these increases as a blessing, they’re viewed as a disease. Yet unless we prefer to run our schools and hospitals as if they were factories, we can be certain that, in the race against the machine, the costs of healthcare and education will only go up. At the same time, products like refrigerators and cars have become too cheap. To look solely at the price of a product is to ignore a large share of the costs. In fact, a British think tank estimated that for every pound earned by advertising executives, they destroy an equivalent of £7 in the form of stress, overconsumption, pollution, and debt; conversely, each pound paid to a trash collector creates an equivalent of £12 in terms of health and sustainability.”",
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                        "text": "“To calculate the GDP, numerous data points have to be linked together and hundreds of wholly subjective choices made regarding what to count and what to ignore. In spite of this methodology, the GDP is never presented as anything less than hard science, whose fractional vacillations can make the difference between reelection and political annihilation. Yet this apparent precision is an illusion. The GDP is not a clearly defined object just waiting around to be “measured.” To measure GDP is to seek to measure an idea. A great idea, admittedly. There’s no denying that GDP came in very handy during wartime, when the enemy was at the gates and a country’s very existence hinged on production, on churning out as many tanks, planes, bombs, and grenades as possible. During wartime, it’s perfectly reasonable to borrow from the future. During wartime, it makes sense to pollute the environment and go into debt. It can even be preferable to neglect your family, put your children to work on a production line, sacrifice your free time, and forget everything that makes life worth living. Indeed, during wartime, there’s no metric quite as useful as the GDP.”",
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                        "text": "“To economists, everything revolves around scarcity - after all, even the biggest spenders can't buy everything. However, the perception of scarcity is not ubiquitous. An empty schedule feels different than a jam-packed workday. And that's not some harmless little feeling. Scarcity impinges on your mind. People behave differently when they perceive a thing to be scarce. What that thing is doesn't much matter; whether it's too little time, money, friendship, food - it all contributes to experience a \"scarcity mentality\". And this has benefits. People who experience a sense of scarcity are good at managing their short-term problems. Poor people have an incredible ability - in the short term - to make ends meet, the same way that overworked CEOs can power through to close a deal. Despite all this, the drawbacks of a \"scarcity mentality\" are greater than the benefits. Scarcity narrows your focus to your immediate lack, to the meeting that's starting in five minutes or the bills that need to be paid tomorrow. The long-term perspective goes out of the window. \"Scarcity consumes you\", Shafir explains. \"You're less able to focus on other things that are also important to you.\" ... There's a key distinction though between people with busy lives and those living in poverty: You can't take a break from poverty.”",
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                        "text": "“Esther Duflo, a professor at MIT with a strong French accent, likens all this research on development aid to medieval bloodletting.6 The once popular medical practice involved placing leeches on patients’ veins in order to rebalance their bodily humors. If the patient returned to health, the physician could pat himself on the back. If the patient died, it was clearly God’s will. Though those doctors acted with the best of intentions, nowadays we realize that bloodletting cost millions of lives. Even in 1799, the year Alessandro Volta invented the electric battery, President George Washington was relieved of several pints of blood to treat a sore throat. Two days later, he died. Bloodletting, in other words, is a case where the remedy is worse than the disease. The question is, does the same apply to development aid? According to Professor Duflo, both remedies certainly share one key feature, which is the fundamental lack of scientific proof.”",
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