Economic Ignorance Quotes

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

In practice, socialism didn't work. But socialism could never have worked because it is based on false premises about human psychology and society, and gross ignorance of human economy.

...an economic ignoramus unfit to oversee a fifty-cent raffle.

Since time immemorial and pre-industrial, 'greed' has been the accusation hurled at the rich by the concrete-bound illiterates who were unable to conceive of the source of wealth or of the motivation of those who produce it.

Most intellectuals outside the field of economics show remarkably little interest in learning even the basic fundamentals of economics. Yet they do not hesitate to make sweeping pronouncements about the economy in general, businesses in particular, and the many issues revolving around what is called 'income distribution'.

Look, 85% percent of Democrats think the economy's fine. What does that tell you about these people?

Most academic economists know nothing of economy. In fact, they know little of anything.

Politicians are notoriously economically illiterate. And even when they know what would be the right thing, we don't really expect them to do it.

All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America rise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation

Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And when a person does not understand the creation of resources and wealth, the only intellectual alternative is to believe that increasing wealth must be at the cost of someone else. This belief that our good fortune must be an exploitation of others may be the taproot of false prophecy about doom that our evil ways must bring upon us.

Most Americans don't know enough about basic economics to fill out one fortune cookie.

Asking liberals where wages and prices come from is like asking six-year-olds where babies come from.

Our whole lives, did any of us actually think a quarter of a percent was actually an interest rate?

The only history most economists and financial leaders tend to know is the history of their own careers—an average of about 25 years. The only one who seemed to be familiar with the history of the Great Depression was Ben Bernanke.

Thousands of important and intelligent men have never been able to grasp the principle of comparative advantage or believe it even after it was explained to them

People so primitive that they did not know how to get money except by working for it.

Today, in the Twenty-First Century, an age of jet aircraft, personal computers, wireless telecommunications, laser surgery, and incipient space travel, the mentality with which many presumably educated, intelligent people approach matters of economics and business is, however astonishing it may seem, still that of the Dark Ages.

People think that their vote counts. They go to college, and everything gets mixed up. People stop caring, ... They raise the gas prices, but what the Everyman makes and welfare never seem to keep up. The HMO system is so ridiculous. I'm slightly educated. No one wants to hear what Hilary Duff thinks of the economy.

Why does a public discussion of economic policy so often show the abysmal ignorance of the participants?

I think most politicians have almost no understanding of economics; otherwise, they wouldn't have become politicians.

People favor discrimination and privileges because they do not realize that they themselves are consumers and as such must foot the bill. In the case of protectionism, for example, they believe that only the foreigners against whom the import duties discriminate are hurt. It is true the foreigners are hurt, but not they alone: the consumers who must pay higher prices suffer with them.

I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.

I never felt poverty as a child as we never knew anything else.

If ignorance paid dividends, most Americans could make a fortune out of what they don't know about economics.

If ever there were a place where people not only tend not to face economic facts, but it's almost their purpose not to face economic facts, it's Washington.