The whole point about historians is that we are really communing with the dead. It's very restful - because you read. There's some sociopathic problem that makes me prefer it to human interaction. Niall Ferguson More Quotes by Niall Ferguson More Quotes From Niall Ferguson The great thing about behavioural psychology and economics is that they help us to see that there are actually pretty good reasons why human beings swing from greed to fear, and why we're not really calculating machines or utility-maximisers. Niall Ferguson great good economics fear Something that's seldom appreciated about me is that I am in sympathy with a great deal of what Marx wrote, except that I'm on the side of the bourgeoisie. Niall Ferguson i-am great me sympathy Through pure accident of birth, I've managed to stay relatively youthful. Niall Ferguson accident stay pure birth The real point of me isn't that I'm good looking. It's that I'm clever. I've got a brain! I would rather be called a highly intelligent historian than a gorgeous pouting one. Niall Ferguson looking good me brain The debate that I'm interested in having is with seriously smart people about how we design institutions in the 21st century that will genuinely address problems of poverty and educational underachievement. Niall Ferguson problems poverty smart people Ask me not, 'Are you rightwing,' but ask me 'Are you a committed believer in individual freedom, the values of the enlightenment?' Then, yeah, if being rightwing means believing Adam Smith was right, both in the 'Wealth of Nations' and the 'Theory of Moral Sentiments,' then I'm rightwing. Niall Ferguson me you wealth freedom If being rightwing is thinking that Karl Marx's doctrine was a catastrophe for humanity, then I'm rightwing. Niall Ferguson then being humanity thinking Over time, the welfare state has become dysfunctional in a surprising way. But in a way it became a victim of its own success: It became so successful at prolonging life, that it becomes financially unsustainable, unless you make major changes to things like retirement ages. Niall Ferguson you success time life One of the main arguments that I make in my new book, 'The Great Degeneration,' is that the rule of law in the U.S. is becoming the rule of lawyers. Niall Ferguson lawyers great law book I can't think of anything I would rather do with my money than buy my children the best possible education. Niall Ferguson best money education children I was never a very convincing social conservative, and always avoided associating myself with that part of the broader conservative movement. Niall Ferguson never myself always conservative My fundamental tenets are concerned with freedom of the individual; the market isn't perfect, but it's the best available way of allocating resources. Niall Ferguson best freedom perfect way I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in financial history. Niall Ferguson rise think management history Risk models are a substitute for historical knowledge, because they tend to work with just three years' worth of data. But three years is not a long time in financial history. Niall Ferguson work time history knowledge What's so seductive about the efficient markets hypothesis is that it applies nine years out of ten. A lot of the time it works. But when it stops working, you blow up. Niall Ferguson about you time years
