People are reasonably good at estimating how things add up, but for compounding, which involved repeated multiplication, we fail to appreciate how quickly things grow.
Paul RomerRead
It is the job of government to prevent a tragedy of the commons. That includes the commons of shared values and norms on which democracy depends.
Interpretation
Governments must protect shared values and resources to uphold democracy and prevent societal collapse.
The quote by Paul Romer emphasizes the crucial role of government in safeguarding collective resources and societal norms. When individuals exploit shared resources without regard for the community, it can lead to a 'tragedy of the commons', resulting in negative consequences for democracy and society as a whole. Therefore, governmental intervention is necessary to maintain the balance and ensure the well-being of all.
In practice
In a discussion about environmental policy at a town hall meeting.
People are reasonably good at estimating how things add up, but for compounding, which involved repeated multiplication, we fail to appreciate how quickly things grow.
When somebody discovers something like the quadratic formula or the Pythagorean theorem, the convention in science is that he can't control that idea. He has to give it away. He publishes it. What's rewarded in science is dissemination of ideas.
An economy can survive with 10% of the population insolation. It can't survive when 50% of the population is in isolation.
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.
Human material existence is limited by ideas, not stuff, people don't need copper wires they need ways to communicate, oil was a contaminant, then it became a fuel
In the developing world, most people don't yet live in big well-run cities. Given the chance to move to one, hundreds of millions of people would go there to get a job, get an education for their children, and live in a place that is clean, safe, and healthy.
For 179 years [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other religious history β perhaps like no other book in any religious history- and still, it stands.
Equality and prosperity shouldn't be seen as enemies of each other, but as partners. One reinforces the other.
Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.
Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.
How friendly all men would be one with another, if no regard were paid to honour and money! I believe it would be a remedy for everything.
I saw the best minds of my generation who threw their watches off the roof to cast their ballot for Eternity outside of Time, & alarm clocks fell on their heads every day for the next decade.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.