At the simplest level, economics can better show us the consequences of our actions. Less simple are cases in which we don't have the knowledge to predict the full consequences. Global warming and climate change are examples.
Edmund PhelpsRead
The epic story of the West is the development in the 19th century of a mass prosperity the world had never seen and its near-disappearance in one nation after another in the 20th.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the rise and fall of prosperity in the Western world during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Edmund Phelps highlights the significant transformation that took place in the West throughout the 19th century, where mass prosperity was achieved, creating an unprecedented economic prosperity. However, he notes the subsequent decline of this prosperity in various nations during the 20th century, indicating a complex relationship between economic development and its sustainability over time.
Themes
ProsperityEconomyHistoryDevelopmentDecline
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about economic trends over the centuries, this quote can illustrate the cyclical nature of prosperity.
More from Edmund Phelps
All quotes →If every effect of any new products or methods were required to be known before they could be produced and marketed, they would not be true innovations - and thus not represent new knowledge of what people would like, if offered.
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The good life, as it is popularly conceived, typically involves acquiring mastery in one's work, thus gaining for oneself better terms - or means to rewards, whether material, like wealth, or nonmaterial - an experience we may call 'prospering.'
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Entrepreneurs have only the murkiest picture of the future in which they are making their bets, and also there is ambiguity: they don't know when they push this lever or that lever that the outcome is going to be what they think it is going to be - there is the law of unanticipated consequences.
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When the word 'morality' comes up in connection with economics, income distribution and financial stability are usually the issues. Is it moral for rich countries to use such a high proportion of the world's resources or for investment bankers to earn large bonuses?
Edmund PhelpsRead
A nation's economy is more than its markets, tastes, technologies and property rights.
Edmund PhelpsRead
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