One of the key problems is that the Germans know what they do because everywhere they go there's a 'made in Germany' label on it - they can feel proud of Volkswagens and Audis and Mercedes. Evan Davis More Quotes by Evan Davis More Quotes From Evan Davis I've never enjoyed sleep as much until I got the 'Today' job. There is something about early sleep that's much better than late sleep. I feel myself going to sleep; I don't just plonk my head on the pillow. It's a sort of winding-down thing. Evan Davis sleep today jobs Interest rate cuts have an effect in stimulating an economy by directly or indirectly making someone, somewhere, spend more than they otherwise would. That extra spending increases demand and ensures that we all carry on with work to do, without us having to slash our prices or our wrists. Evan Davis economy demand cutting Interestingly, human irrationality is a hot topic in economics at the moment. Behavioural economics it's called, on the cusp of economics and psychology. Evan Davis topics psychology hot All socio-political phenomena in the U.K. come laden with the baggage of a class-based theory or two attached to them. In the case of gay Tories, there is one particularly silly variant of the category, which asserts that gayness is bred in public schools and thus fits with Conservatism like hand in glove. Evan Davis silly love school Put simply, behavioural economics argues that human beings' decision-taking is guided by the evolutionary baggage which we bring with us to the present day. Evolution has made us rational to a point, but not perfectly so. It has given us emotions, for example, which programme us to override our rational brain and act more instinctively. Evan Davis decision example brain I don't particularly like going on about being gay or making a big thing about it, but I think it's a bit of a pain to be secretive about it. Evan Davis gay pain thinking Mistakes are nothing to be ashamed of. Evan Davis ashamed mistake We all know that Americans love their statistics - in sport, obviously. And in finance too. Evan Davis finance statistics sports Even the 'Today' programme involves a balance between the worthy-but-heavy items with the worthless-but-entertainingly-light ones. Evan Davis balance light today We are more likely to cheat if we see others doing so. We tend to conform to accepted norms of reasonable behaviour, rather than adhere to strict rules. Evan Davis cheat accepted behaviour I actually profoundly think the world's a better place when economics is fairly boring... The more boring the better. Evan Davis boring world thinking I swing both ways. I can see things from a kind of conservative point of view and from a more socially liberal or left-wing point of view. Evan Davis swings views way I don't want to sound like 'chirpy Evan' who's just bouncing around with his unrealistic views and doesn't understand what's going on. Evan Davis views sound want It's amazing, if you know what you want to say, how fast it is to write. Evan Davis knows want writing Personally, I'd like us to have a few more women on the 'Today' programme. Evan Davis programmes today Reducing every issue to an argument can become stale but it's often a very good way of clarifying issues. Evan Davis argument issues way The key thing about me is that I'm really not very interesting. Evan Davis very-interesting keys interesting The two questions that anyone ever asks me are: 'Are house prices going to go down?' and 'Is it a good time to fix my mortgage rate?' Evan Davis down-and house two What is so striking about Liberia is that in a place where there is so much to be done, I have never seen so many people with nothing to do. Evan Davis done people In principle, there are only three main components of spending that much matter to monetary policy: consumer spending, business investment and exports and trade. Evan Davis three principles matter
