The insane pursuit of the holy grail of a balanced budget in the end is going to drive the economy into a depression.

- William Vickrey

Larger deficits are necessary and proper means to mitigate unemployment as the far greater evil in terms of human welfare.

- William Vickrey

Deficits do not in themselves produce inflation, nor does a balanced budget assure a stable price level.

- William Vickrey

Nearly all educational expenditure should be considered a capital outlay. Education provides a future return in the form of enhanced taxable income a…

- William Vickrey

There is no real justification for a requirement that a budget of any sort should be balanced, except as a rallying point for those who seek to hamst…

- William Vickrey

If unemployment could be brought down to say 2 percent at the cost of an assured steady rate of inflation of 10 percent per year, or even 20 percent,…

- William Vickrey

The great increase in longevity has produced a surge in the desire to accumulate assets for retirement. It has outpaced the ability of the private se…

- William Vickrey

Balancing a nominal budget will solve nothing, and attempting to achieve such a spurious balance will produce much mischief.

- William Vickrey

Practically, the desirable situation ought to be one in which any reasonably responsible person willing to accept available employment can find a job…

- William Vickrey