Quotes by Alex Tabarrok - Page 1

The only way to thrive is to innovate. It's that simple.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Simple
Thrive
Way
Innovate
Copy Quote
It seems to me that the price of eternal vigilance is liberty.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Eternal
Liberty
Vigilance
Copy Quote
Going to college is neither necessary nor sufficient to be well-educated.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
College
Educated
Sufficient
Well Educated
Wells
Neither
Copy Quote
Well-roundedness comes not from sitting in a classroom but from experiencing the larger world.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Classroom
Sitting
World
Experiencing
Copy Quote
As far as wages are concerned, the only difference between immigration and birth is that birth takes longer.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Birth
Differences
Immigration
Wages
Only Difference
Copy Quote
A bet is a tax on bullshit; and it is a just tax, tribute paid by the bullshitters to those with genuine knowledge.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Bullshit
Taxes
Copy Quote
What we tell students in formal schooling: “Sit down, stay quiet, and absorb. Do this for 12 to 16 years and all will be well.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Quiet
Students
Years
Copy Quote
I think modern television shows, with their intricate plots, are stimulating our minds. This is one reason IQs have been going up.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Intricate
Mind
Plot
Television Shows
Thinking
Stimulating
Minds
Plots
Copy Quote
If China and India were as rich as the United States is today, the market for cancer drugs would be eight times larger than it is now.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Cancer
Inspiration
Motivation
Copy Quote
Democracy is an experimental system. I like it when states try out new ideas. I think we ought to expand, not contract, our federalist system.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Democracy
Federalist
Ideas
New Ideas
Ought
Thinking
Contract
Expand
Copy Quote
People get used to more complex forms of entertainment, and they become bored by simpler forms. Television has become more complex in order to feed our demand.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Bored
Demand
People Entertainment Television
Forms
Complex
Feed
Simpler
Copy Quote
Conservatives have long argued, correctly, that 'fine-tuning' the economy is a chimera, but that argument seems to have disappeared from the conservative handbook.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Conservative
Long
Tuning
Argued
Conservatives
Correctly
Disappeared
Handbook
Copy Quote
The term 'natural resources' confuses people. 'Natural resources' are not like a finite number of gifts under the Christmas tree. Nature is given, but resources are created.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Christmas
Christmas Tree
Finite
Finite Number
Natural Resources
Resources
Term
Tree
Confuses
Gifts
Copy Quote
A lot of people say that India has been held back by its democracy. But lets remember that, despite being a poor country, Indias democracy meant that its government never let millions of people starve.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Government
Country
People
Copy Quote
A lot of people say that India has been held back by its democracy. But let's remember that, despite being a poor country, India's democracy meant that its government never let millions of people starve.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Democracy
Despite
Millions
Poor
Meant
Held
Millions Of People
People Say
Starve
Copy Quote
Writing on the blog, you want to get attention and make strong claims. In academic work, that often doesn't pay, so sometimes it's a little bit difficult going back and forth to navigate these differences.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Academic
Claims
Differences
Navigate
Strong
Writing
Blog
Forth
Copy Quote
Patents are like fertilizer. Applied wisely and sparingly, they can increase growth. But if you apply too many chemicals, or make patents too strong, then you can leach the land, making growth more difficult.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Chemicals
Fertilizer
Growth
Increase
Land
Patents
Strong
Applied
Sparingly
Wisely
Copy Quote
I encourage everyone I know to sign an organ donor card, but if someone doesn't want to sign, that's his or her choice. If someone isn't willing to give an organ, however, why should that person be allowed to receive an organ?
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Cards
Choices
Giving
Card
Donor
Organ
Receive
Sign
Copy Quote
The first thing you learn when you're blogging is that people are one click away from leaving you. So you've got to get to the point, you can't waste people's time, you've got to give them some value for their limited attention span.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Attention
Blogging
Giving
Leaving
People
Waste
Time Value People
Click
First Thing
Limited
Span
The First Thing
Value
Copy Quote
More retirees, longer life expectancy, larger benefits, and fewer workers - these trends have meant substantial increases in the payroll tax. Since the social security program began, the payroll tax has increased more than 500 percent.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Benefits
Expectancy
Fewer
Life Expectancy
Payroll
Payroll Tax
Program
Social Security
Trends
Workers
Tax
Increases
Retirees
Substantial
Copy Quote
Michael Moore didn't have to worry that anyone would misinterpret the title of his film, 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' because in Hollywood, no one loves capitalism. That's too bad, because Hollywood is one of capitalism's greatest successes.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Hollywood
Love Story
Titles
Worry
Michael
Loves
Moore
Successes
Title
Copy Quote
Hollywood wants its heroes to be virtuous, but it defines virtue in a way that excludes any action that is self-interested. If virtue means putting others ahead of self, then it's clear that most people, let alone most capitalists, aren't very virtuous.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Hero
Mean
Self
Virtue
Virtuous
Heroes
Ahead
Capitalists
Defines
Copy Quote
It used to be that almost all innovation came from the U.S. and a small number of other developed countries. That's no longer the case, and as China and India grow, it's changing even more. Expect a lot more Chinese and Indian Nobel prizes in the future.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
China
China And India
Indian
Innovation
Nobel
Almost All
Case
Countries
Developed
Developed Countries
Expect
Number
Longer
Prizes
Copy Quote
There is no right to a job or a wage rate, but there is a right to move from one country to another in search of a better life. This is the point of view of Thomas Jefferson, John Locke and other great supporters of the natural rights tradition in America.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Better Life
Natural Rights
Point Of View
Rate
Life Great Better
Jefferson
Locke
One Country
Search
Supporters
Thomas
Wage
Copy Quote
It would be really great if I discovered a cure for cancer, but it would only be a little bit less great if my neighbor did. So I am pretty happy when my neighbor becomes wealthier, better educated and more innovative. I feel the same about China and India.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Cancer
China And India
Educated
India
Innovative
Neighbor
Would Be
Great I Am Better
Cure
Copy Quote
Our obsessive focus on college schooling has blinded us to basic truths. College is a place, not a magic formula. It matters what subjects students study, and subsidies should focus on the subjects that matter the most - not to the students, but to everyone else.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Blinded
College
Focus
Magic
Obsessive
Schooling
Subjects
Everyone Else
Truths
Copy Quote
I utterly reject the view that the Third World is doomed to poverty and starvation. Not only is this wrong, I think this attitude verges on the immoral, like thinking that slavery is an unalterable facet of the human condition so why bother doing anything about it?
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Attitude
Bother
Doomed
Human Condition
Immoral
Poverty
Starvation
Thinking
Third World
Views
Why Bother
Condition
Facet
Reject
Third
Utterly
Copy Quote
People used to think that more population was bad for growth. In this view, people are stomachs - they eat, leaving less for everyone else. But once we realize the importance of ideas in the economy, people become brain - they innovate, creating more for everyone else.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Importance
Population
Everyone Else
Innovate
Copy Quote
Like many works of literature, Hollywood chooses for its villains people who strive for social dominance through the pursuit of wealth, prestige, and power. But the ordinary business of capitalism is much more egalitarian: It's about finding meaning and enjoyment in work and production.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Capitalism
Dominance
Egalitarianism
Enjoyment
Hollywood
Literature
Ordinary
People
Prestige
Pursuit
Strive
Wealth
Chooses
Egalitarian
Production
Villains
Copy Quote
Capitalists work hard to produce what consumers want. Artists who work too hard to produce what consumers want are often accused of selling out. Thus, even the languages of capitalism and art conflict: a firm that has 'sold out' has succeeded, but an artist that has 'sold out' has failed.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Art
Accused
Capitalism
Conflict
Firm
Hard Work
Produce
Selling
Want
Capitalists
Languages
Failed
Sold
Succeeded
Thus
Work Hard
Copy Quote
College has been oversold. It has been oversold to students who end up dropping out or graduating with degrees that don't help them very much in the job market. It also has been oversold to the taxpayers, who foot the bill for subsidies that do nothing to encourage innovation and economic growth.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Jobs
College
Degrees
Dropping
Economic Growth
Feet
Growth
Innovation
Subsidies
Taxpayers
Bill
Encourage
Foot
Graduating
Market
Copy Quote
Television is much more complex, brain-challenging and involved than it used to be. It's almost impossible to watch a television show from 15 years ago; it's just too boring. I think modern television shows, with their intricate plots, are stimulating our minds. This is one reason IQs have been going up.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Intricate
Complex
Stimulating
Plots
Television Show
Copy Quote
The obsessive focus on a college degree has served neither taxpayers nor students well. Only 35 percent of students starting a four-year degree program will graduate within four years, and less than 60 percent will graduate within six years. Students who haven't graduated within six years probably never will.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
College Degree
Obsessive
Program
Degree
Four-Year
Graduate
Neither
Served
Copy Quote
Education is the key to the future: You've heard it a million times, and it's not wrong. Educated people have higher wages and lower unemployment rates, and better-educated countries grow faster and innovate more than other countries. But going to college is not enough. You also have to study the right subjects.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Education
Future
College
Country
Educated
Enough
Faster
Heard
Higher
Keys
Other Countries
Study
Subjects
Unemployment
Wages
More
Going
Also
Education Future People
Grow
Countries
Wrong
Educated People
Times
Innovate
Lower
Million
Million Times
Other
Right
Rates
Than
Copy Quote
When the FDA forces an old drug off the market, patients have very little say in the matter. Patients have even less of a say when the FDA chooses not to approve a new drug. Instead, we are supposed to rely on the FDA's judgment and be grateful. But can the FDA really make a choice that is appropriate for everyone? Of course not.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Appropriate
Be Grateful
Fda
Grateful
Judgment
Rely
Choice
Chooses
Forces
Instead
Market
Patients
Supposed
Copy Quote
America has the highest standard of living of any major country in the entire world. To maintain and enhance that standard of living, America should continue to embrace those qualities which have made America great: openness and dynamism. Openness to new technologies, new ideas and new people is America's greatest source of strength.
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Technology
America
Country
Dynamism
Embrace
Ideas
Made
New Ideas
Openness
Strength Great World
Living
Greatest
Enhance
Entire
Entire World
Major
Maintain
New Technologies
Standard
Qualities
Technologies
Copy Quote
Today it is evident that we have two political parties: the Tax and Spenders and the No-Tax and Spenders. Neither party is fiscally conservative. Is there no room at the inn for an honest conservative? A conservative who makes the case for smaller government on its merits and not just as the fallback option when fiscal bankruptcy threatens?
Alex Tabarrok / Economist
Bankruptcy
Evident
Political Parties
Smaller Government
Tax
Option
Fiscal
Fiscally Conservative
Inn
Merits
Neither
Parties
Smaller
Threatens
Copy Quote

Related Economist Authors

Thomas Sowell
Economist
Monday, Jun 30, 1930
William Stanley Jevons
Economist
Tuesday, Sep 01, 1835
Sunday, Aug 13, 1882
William Petty
Economist
Friday, May 26, 1623
Tuesday, Dec 16, 1687
William Forsyth Sharpe
Economist
Saturday, Jun 16, 1934
William Easterly
Economist
Saturday, Sep 07, 1957
William Beveridge
Economist
Wednesday, Mar 05, 1879
Saturday, Mar 16, 1963
William A. Niskanen
Economist
Monday, Mar 13, 1933
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2011
Willem Buiter
Economist
Monday, Sep 26, 1949
Will Hutton
Economist
Sunday, May 21, 1950
Werner Sombart
Economist
Monday, Jan 19, 1863
Sunday, May 18, 1941
Wassily Leontief
Economist
Sunday, Aug 05, 1906
Friday, Feb 05, 1999
Wang Anshi
Economist
Saturday, Dec 08, 1021
Friday, May 21, 1086
Walter Heller
Economist
Friday, Aug 27, 1915
Monday, Jun 15, 1987
Walter E. Williams
Economist
Tuesday, Jun 30, 1936
Walter Block
Economist
Thursday, Aug 21, 1941

View All Economist Quotes

Top Authors

Oscar Wilde
Writer
Monday, Oct 16, 1854
Friday, Nov 30, 1900
Thomas Aquinas
Priest
Tuesday, Jan 28, 1225
Wednesday, Mar 07, 1274
Michael Jordan
Basketball Player
Sunday, Feb 17, 1963
Ronald Reagan
40Th US President
Monday, Feb 06, 1911
Saturday, Jun 05, 2004
Vince Lombardi
Football Player
Wednesday, Jun 11, 1913
Thursday, Sep 03, 1970
Billy Graham
Professional Wrestler
Monday, Jun 07, 1943
Robert Frost
Poet
Thursday, Mar 26, 1874
Tuesday, Jan 29, 1963
Groucho Marx
Comedian
Thursday, Oct 02, 1890
Friday, Aug 19, 1977
Mae West
Actress
Thursday, Aug 17, 1893
Saturday, Nov 22, 1980
Paulo Coelho
Lyricist
Sunday, Aug 24, 1947
Bob Marley
Singer
Tuesday, Feb 06, 1945
Monday, May 11, 1981
Kobe Bryant
Basketball Player
Wednesday, Aug 23, 1978
Jean De La Bruyere
Wednesday, Aug 16, 1645
Thursday, May 10, 1696
John Muir
Author
Saturday, Apr 21, 1838
Thursday, Dec 24, 1914
Thomas Sowell
Economist
Monday, Jun 30, 1930

View All Authors

Alex Tabarrok Quotes - Page 1

App & Tools

Related Economist Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Economist Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page