The only antidote to dangerous ideas is strong alternatives vigorously advocated.
Global capital markets pose the same kinds of problems that jet planes do. They are faster, more comfortable, and they get you where you are going better. But the crashes are much more spectacular.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Global capital markets offer great advantages but also carry significant risks that can lead to catastrophic failures.
Lawrence Summers' quote draws an analogy between global capital markets and jet planes, highlighting that while both provide remarkable benefits such as speed and efficiency, they also come with inherent risks. Just as jet crashes can be dramatic and destructive, the failures in capital markets can have far-reaching and severe consequences, reminding us that advancements in technology and finance come with the need for caution and responsibility.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a financial conference, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of managing financial risks.
More from Lawrence Summers
All quotes →It used to be said that when the U.S. sneezed, the world caught a cold. The opposite is equally true today.
A good rule of thumb for many things in life holds that things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then happen faster than you thought they could.
Most investors want to do today what they should have done yesterday.
We are inheriting the worst financial system since the Depression. We're inheriting a situation - when people go back and study major banking crises a quarter century from now, the one that America developed in 2007 and 2008 is going to be one of those crises.
The idea that we should be open to all ideas is very different from the supposition that all ideas are equally valid.
Similar quotes
The tendency of a national bank is to increase public and private credit. The former gives power to the state, for the protection of its rights and interests: and the latter facilitates and extends the operations of commerce among individuals. Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufacturers flourish: and herein consists the true wealth and prosperity of a state.
One of the most powerful insights in economics is this idea of a division of labor. You do the thing you're good at. Other people do something else that they're good at. The net effect is better for everybody.
If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper-middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end - people like myself - should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it.
Everyone may have some advise for the RBI. Some may advise, 'Cut your lending rates and raise the deposit rate.' How will a bank function? We take a medium term view. The bank has an 80-year-old history. I don't want to destroy it for a few decisions.
Credit is a promise to deliver money. It will produce GDP but you'll create credit... So you reach a certain point that that you can't do that anymore... There are choices. And how do we best support, apportion the money? How much is going to be transferred?
Socialism failed because it couldn't tell the economic truth. Capitalism may fail because it couldn't tell the ecological truth.