Logo - Feel The Words

Economic Theory Quotes

Thoughts on the ideas that shape how economies are explained.

These quotes trace economic theory across centuries, from mercantilism's grip on early modern Europe to the shift toward British classical thought after Smith and Ricardo. Several lines question theories that treat labor as just another input.

Journalists, whose job is to pull back and tell dramatic stories that bring power into focus, find it impossible because things like economic theory are both incomprehensible and, above all, boring. The same is true of 'management science.'

Quotes by Adam Curtis

Every non-Marxist economic theory that treats human and non-human productive inputs as interchangeable assumes that the dehumanisation of human labour is complete. But if it could ever be completed, the result would be the end of capitalism as a system...

Quotes by Yanis Varoufakis

Mercantilism was an insidious economic theory that held Europe in its thrall in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Quotes by Steve Hanke

I have never believed that central banks should have rigid inflation targeting. That is not a good thing to stabilize. There is nothing in economic theory to back this.

Quotes by Robert Mundell

Allegations Quotes

The tradition of Chicago price theory is a good one, and it is a low-tech methodology that tries to apply simple economic theory to the world.

Quotes by Richard Thaler

Early economic theory was rooted in the Italian, French, and Spanish traditions, which were subjectivist oriented. Then it shifted onto the terrible path by Smith and Ricardo and the British classical tradition, which is 'objectivist' - values are in inherent...

Quotes by Murray Rothbard

Evidence and economic theory suggests that control of the Internet by the phone and cable companies would lead to blocking of competing technologies.

Quotes by Marvin Ammori

In short, both experience and economic theory imply that the US could now t to a more competitive dollar without experiencing either increased inflation or decreased economic growth.

Quotes by Martin Feldstein

The first issue to be settled is whether socialism has a right to exist Are its allegations concerning the present system true? Is industry proceeding on a principle of fraud? I wish to test the power of recent economic theory...

Quotes by John Bates Clark

Assumes Quotes

We could solve all our problems if only we were the efficient, rational human beings of standard economic theory and had politicians willing to think in the long-term interest of their people rather than their own.

Quotes by Jeremy Grantham

A lot of things that we cannot buy and sell in markets used to be totally legal objects of market exchange - human beings when we had slavery, child labour, human organs, and so on. So there is no economic...

Quotes by Ha-Joon Chang

To put it bluntly, there isn't one economic theory that can single-handedly explain Singapore's success; its economy combines extreme features of capitalism and socialism. All theories are partial; reality is complex.

Quotes by Ha-Joon Chang

Even before I came to Chicago, I had gotten interested in the existence of dispersion of prices under conditions which economic theory said would yield a single price.

Quotes by George Stigler

We don't see very far in the future, we are very focused on one idea at a time, one problem at a time, and all these are incompatible with rationality as economic theory assumes it.

Quotes by Daniel Kahneman

Back Quotes

The fact is that during the post-1989 heyday of globalization optimism, political and business elites did not think enough about the prospect - plainly predicted in economic theory - that trade would harm some people even while leaving society as...

Quotes by Arancha Gonzalez

Frequently Asked Questions

What historical periods do these economic theory quotes cover?
They range from mercantilism's hold on 16th-to-18th-century Europe to the later shift toward British classical economics associated with Smith and Ricardo.
Do the quotes take a side on socialism versus capitalism?
One quote raises the question directly, asking whether socialism's Allegations against the existing system are true, without settling the debate itself.
Is there a common criticism of economic theory in this set?
Several lines question theories that treat human labor as interchangeable with other productive inputs, arguing this assumption strips something essential from the picture.
Where did early economic theory come from, according to these quotes?
One quote traces its roots to Italian, French, and Spanish subjectivist traditions before the field shifted toward the British classical school.
Are these quotes technical or accessible to a general reader?
They're written in plain language about ideas and history rather than formulas, making them readable even without an economics background.

Others weigh in on whether socialism's Allegations against existing systems hold up, keeping the debate grounded rather than settled. Explore more perspectives on how economies get theorized and argued over.