Alfred Marshall Professions : Economist Born : July 26, 1842 Died : July 13, 1924 Browse All Authors Top 30 quotes by Alfred Marshall The most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings Alfred Marshall investing money people Political Economy or Economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life. Alfred Marshall political study ordinary Knowledge is our most powerful engine of production. Alfred Marshall engines most-powerful powerful Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth. Alfred Marshall wealth political philosophy In common use almost every word has many shades of meaning, and therefore needs to be interpreted by the context. Alfred Marshall shade use needs Civilized countries generally adopt gold or silver or both as money. Alfred Marshall money gold country The most reckless and treacherous of all theorists is he who professes to let facts and figures speak for themselves. Alfred Marshall reckless speak facts We might as well reasonably dispute whether it is the upper or the under blade of a pair of scissors that cuts a piece of paper, as whether value is governed by demand or supply. Alfred Marshall pieces cutting paper The price of every thing rises and falls from time to time and place to place; and with every such change the purchasing power of money changes so far as that thing goes. Alfred Marshall purchasing-power finance fall Every short statement about economics is misleading (with the possible exception of my present one). Alfred Marshall economics exception education Consumption may be regarded as negative production. Alfred Marshall consumption may negative Nature's action is complex: and nothing is gained in the long run by pretending that it is simple, and trying to describe it in a series of elementary propositions. Alfred Marshall simple running long I admit that these terms and the diagrams connected with them repel some readers, and fill others with the vain imagination that they have mastered difficult economics problems, when really they have done little more than learn the language in which parts of those problems can be expressed, and the machinery by which they can be handled. When the actual conditions of particular problems have not been studied, such knowledge is little better than a derrick for sinking oil-wells erected where there are no oil-bearing strata. Alfred Marshall oil done imagination The love for money is only one among many. Alfred Marshall money The commercial storm leaves its path strewn with ruin. When it is over there is calm, but a dull, heavy calm. Alfred Marshall ruins storm dull All wealth consists of desirable things; that is, things which satisfy human wants directly or indirectly: but not all desirable things are reckoned as wealth. Alfred Marshall wealth humans want It is common to distinguish necessaries, comforts, and luxuries; the first class including all things required to meet wants which must be satisfied, while the latter consist of things that meet wants of a less urgent character. Alfred Marshall luxury class character Slavery was regarded by Aristotle as an ordinance of nature, and so probably was it by the slaves themselves in olden time. Alfred Marshall ordinances slavery slave Again, most of the chief distinctions marked by economic terms are differences not of kind but of degree. Alfred Marshall degrees differences kind Though a simple book can be written on selected topics, the central doctrines of economics are not simple and cannot be made so. Alfred Marshall doctrine simple book Similar Authors Bryan Caplan economist Burton Malkiel economist Bruno Frey economist Brian Wesbury economist Branko Milanovic economist Andrew Samwick economist All Authors
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