That's the world we live in: when it comes to economics, people have emotions; it's not like chemistry or physics.
Robert J. ShillerRead
Thirty years ago, many economists argued that inflation was a kind of minor inconvenience and that the cost of reducing inflation was too high a price to pay. No one would make those arguments today.
Interpretation
The perception of inflation has changed significantly over time, with greater awareness of its impacts.
Martin Feldstein's quote emphasizes the evolution of economic thought regarding inflation. Previously considered a minor issue, inflation is now recognized as a serious economic concern, illustrating how the understanding and prioritization of economic factors can shift dramatically in response to real-world consequences.
In practice
During a financial seminar discussing current economic policies.
That's the world we live in: when it comes to economics, people have emotions; it's not like chemistry or physics.
When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident.
Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes a bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill done.
African countries lose billions every year because of tax dodging by big corporations and wealthy individuals. They lose billions more from overly generous tax incentives in a misguided belief that this is the only way to attract foreign investment.
Although we work through financial markets, our goal is to help Main Street, not Wall Street.
Poor people of all colors are getting poorer and our communities are getting more toxic. There is a misconception that to grow our economy we will have to do business as usual, because cleaning up the environment, mitigating climate change is just too costly. Well, I say the business of poverty is just too expensive a bill for humanity to pay any longer.
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