I think that a lot of people in all walks of life have the impression, of course, that, 'I specialize in something. I can't - I don't have the time to read other things. I'll just go to pure entertainment when I'm relaxing, and then I'll come back to my pure specialty.' That produces - that attitude produces idiot savants, unfortunately.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of broadening one's knowledge beyond a specific area of expertise.
Robert J. Shiller warns against the narrow-minded approach of only focusing on one's specialty while neglecting other fields of knowledge. He suggests that this reliance on specialization can lead to a lack of well-rounded understanding and critical thinking, likening those who adopt such a mindset to 'idiot savants' who excel in one area but lack broader wisdom or insight.
In practice
In a talk about personal development, one might use this quote to encourage the audience to explore new subjects.
Those on the downside of rising economic inequality generally do not want government policies that look like handouts. They typically do not want the government to make the tax system more progressive, to impose punishing taxes on the rich, in order to give the money to them. Redistribution feels demeaning. It feels like being labeled a failure.
Speculative markets have always been vulnerable to illusion. But seeing the folly in markets provides no clear advantage in forecasting outcomes, because changes in the force of the illusion are difficult to predict.
That's the world we live in: when it comes to economics, people have emotions; it's not like chemistry or physics.
Money management has been a profession involving a lot of fakery - people saying they can beat the market, and they really can't.
We should not be focusing on quick solutions. The really important concern for policymakers everywhere is to prevent disasters - that is, the outlier events that matter the most.
If we wait until income inequality is much more severe, we will have a whole class of new superrich who will probably feel entitled to their wealth and will have the means to defend their interest. That's already gone far enough. We shouldn't let it become more extreme.
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
I see myself as, first and above all, a teacher of history; next, a writer of European history; next, a commentator on European affairs; next, a public intellectual voice within the American left; and only then an occasional, opportunistic participant in the pained American discussion of the Jewish matter.
A child must learn early to believe that she is somebody worthwhile, and that she can do many praiseworthy things.
The writer must have a good imagination to begin with, but the imagination has to be muscular, which means it must be exercised in a disciplined way, day in and day out, by writing, failing, succeeding and revising.
It takes a great deal of living to get a little deal of learning.
The real safeguard of democracy is education.
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