If you are a good economist, a virtuous economist, you are reborn as a physicist. But if you are an evil, wicked economist, you are reborn as a sociologist. Paul Krugman More Quotes by Paul Krugman More Quotes From Paul Krugman There's one thing that the Fed has been really good at cracking down on, and that's inflation. Paul Krugman fedsinflationhas-beens For most Americans, economic growth is a spectator sport. Paul Krugman economicgrowthsports People who are complaining about the Fed are people who've been predicting runaway inflation for five and six years, and it hasn't happened. Paul Krugman complainingpeopleyears What the Depression teaches us is that when the economy is so depressed that even a zero interest rate isn't low enough, you have to put conventional notions of prudence and sound policy aside. Paul Krugman zeroenoughsound Our grandfathers lived in a world of largely self-sufficient, inward-looking national economies - but our great-great grandfathers lived, as we do, in a world of large-scale international trade and investment, a world destroyed by nationalism. Paul Krugman inwardselfgrandfather One way in which Americans have always been exceptional has been in our support for education. First we took the lead in universal primary education; then the “high school movement†made us the first nation to embrace widespread secondary education. Paul Krugman supporteducationschool 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 investments. But I had to face the fact that speculative bubbles usually are followed by recessions. My excuse has been that this was because the policy makers moved too slowly - that central banks were typically too slow to cut interest rates in the face of a burst bubble, giving the downturn time to build up a lot of momentum. Paul Krugman cuttingphilosophylong Coming up with a good idea, with an insight into the way the world works that is really new and that you really believe in, is a deeply satisfying experience. Paul Krugman believeworldideas There is no economic policy. That's really important to say. The general modus operandi of the Bushies is that they don't make policies to deal with problems. They use problems to justify things they wanted to do anyway. So there is no policy to deal with the lack of jobs. There really isn't even a policy to deal with terrorism. It's all about how can we spin what's happening out there to do what we want to do. Paul Krugman importantusejobs On the political as on the economic front it's important not to fall into the "not as bad as" trap. High unemployment isn't O.K. just because it hasn't hit 1933 levels; ominous political trends shouldn’t be dismissed just because there’s no Hitler in sight. Paul Krugman politicalsightfall 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 crisis. Paul Krugman debtgovernmentrunning The planet will continue to cook. Paul Krugman global-warmingcooksplanets Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that's slightly below the average across all advanced economies. Paul Krugman uniquecountryreality Simple doesn't mean stupid. Thinking that it does, does. Paul Krugman simplestupidmean The real danger with debt is what happens if lots of people decide, or are forced, to pay it off at the same time. Paul Krugman debtrealpeople [I]f one asks what substantive contributions [F. A. Hayek] made to our understanding of how the world works, one is left at something of a loss. Were it not for his politics, he would be virtually forgotten. Paul Krugman understandingwould-beloss If the price of everything is going down, that's going to include wages as well. People will have an incentive to sit on their cash and not spend it. Paul Krugman incentiveswagespeople There's nothing magic about spending on tanks and bombs rather than roads and bridges. Paul Krugman tanksmagicbridges I don't want a job in the administration; I think I'm more effective carping from the sidelines. Paul Krugman wantjobsthinking Many people ... prefer to describe themselves as progressives rather than liberals. To some extent that's a response to the decades-long propaganda campaign conducted by movement conservatives, which has been quite successful in making Americans disdain the word liberal but much less successful in reducing support for liberal policies. Paul Krugman successfullongpeople
