Success Comes Through Rapidly Fixing our Mistakes Rather than Getting Things Right the First Time. Tim Harford More Quotes by Tim Harford More Quotes From Tim Harford I see the God complex around me all the time in my fellow economists. I see it in our business leaders. I see it in the politicians we vote for - people who, in the face of an incredibly complicated world, are nevertheless absolutely convinced that they understand the way that the world works. Tim Harford complicated-worldmotivationinspiration You show me a successful complex system, and I will show you a system that has evolved through trial and error. Tim Harford trial-and-errorerrorssuccessful Trying to be able to have, let's say, more than three partners was absolutely impossible, at least for my own relationships. Tim Harford ablethreetrying Economics spreads happiness. Tim Harford economicsspread Loss aversion is a really disproportionate anxiety about stuff that doesn't matter very much. So for instance, if you lose $5, you feel really bad about the $5 you've lost. You're cursing yourself. You're going through it again and again. If, on the other hand, you find $5, you go - hey, great, five bucks. And you've forgotten about it really quickly. Tim Harford anxietylosshands British politicians used to be good at misleading people without actually lying. Tim Harford politicianlyingpeople There's lots and lots of guys out there. The question is trying to find the right one. Tim Harford guytrying Failure in Innovation - it's a price worth paying. Tim Harford innovation How did the economy produce all these amazing things that we have around us - computers and cell phones and so on? There were a bunch of ideas, and the good ones grew and prospered. And the bad ones were pretty ruthlessly weeded out. Tim Harford phonescellsideas Synthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations. Tim Harford realplayerbook Norway has a relationship with the EU which is very close. It has to accept most EU rules. It has to pay EU membership fees. It has free movement of people just like other EU countries, but it's not actually in the EU. Tim Harford movementcountrypeople People today dont become economists to make the world a better place. Tim Harford todaypeopleworld There's nothing wrong with a plan, but remember Von Moltke's famous dictum that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. The danger is a plan that seduces us into thinking failure is impossible and adaptation is unnecessary - a kind of ‘Titanic' plan, unsinkable (until it hits the iceberg). Tim Harford enemyfirststhinking Accepting trial and error means accepting error. It means taking problems in our stride when a decision doesn't work out, whether through luck or misjudgment. And that is not something human brains seem to be able to do without a struggle. Tim Harford errorsstrugglemean We now have political chaos. We've got parties in Ireland saying they want to merge with Northern Ireland. You've got parties in Scotland saying you want to leave the U.K. You've got the Spanish government saying it would like to take ownership of Gibraltar, which is a British overseas territory... So just the politics of this is a mess. Tim Harford scotlandpartygovernment Economists have allowed themselves to walk into a trap where we say we can forecast, but no serious economist thinks we can. You don't expect dentists to be able to forecast how many teeth you'll have when you're 80. You expect them to give good advice and fix problems. Tim Harford advicegivingthinking I am aiming my books at anybody with no economics background. Tim Harford economicsbackgroundsbook If the whole process of learning from failure means discarding stuff that's not working, but in fact, our natural reaction is to keep going, to throw more money behind it, to throw more emotional energy behind it... that's a real problem. Tim Harford emotionalrealmean A lot of international companies invest in the U.K. as a base for doing business with the rest of the European Union. Tim Harford european-unioncompanyunions Ten percent of American businesses disappear every year. ... It's far higher than the failure rate of, say, Americans. Ten percent of Americans don't disappear every year. Which leads us to conclude American businesses fail faster than Americans, and therefore American businesses are evolving faster than Americans. Tim Harford motivationinspirationyears
