Quote: 11) Thomas Sowell on economics and politics

Although I don’t agree with all Thomas Sowell has to say, this quote is brilliant:

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics

I think this quote is apt following an election. All political parties prefer to ignore trade-offs – they just focus is ability in different policy areas 😛

2 replies
  1. Kimble
    Kimble says:

    Calling you out on this one; what dont you agree with Sowell about?

    Is it the immigration thing?

  2. Matt Nolan
    Matt Nolan says:

    “Calling you out on this one; what dont you agree with Sowell about?”

    He is one of those economists who applies his value judgments (in this case conservative) to models and pretends they are still objective. On the other side you have Samuelson doing the same thing:

    http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/11/imagining-the-b.html

    They are both such good economists, but apply value judgments and pretending you are being objective is trash – although I guess it is necessary to write thing in the paper etc 😛

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