Lawrence Summers Quotes

In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.

All taxes discourage something. Why not discourage bad things like pollution rather than good things like working?

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.

The idea that we should be open to all ideas is very different from the supposition that all ideas are equally valid.

Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?... I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that... I’ve always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City.

Investment in girls' education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world.

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.

Deflation and secular stagnation are the risks of our time.

If you look at the history of the American capital market, there's probably no innovation more important than the idea of generally accepted accountancy principles.

What's the single most important thing to learn from an economics course today? What I tried to leave my students with is the view that the invisible hand is more powerful than the hidden hand. Things will happen in well-organized efforts without direction, controls, plans. That's the consensus among economists. That's the Hayek legacy.

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs

Most investors want to do today what they should have done yesterday.

It used to be said that when the U.S. sneezed, the world caught a cold. The opposite is equally true today. Our prosperity is linked inextricably to the maintenance of a strong world economy, an open international trading system, and stable global financial markets.

When I look out the window at my backyard, I can't think of anything interesting to ask. I mean, it's green, it's growing-but nothing occurs to me that any concentrated effort of thought could possibly enlighten. Whereas in economic, statistical, or mathematical kinds of things, I can think lots of questions.

Many children are taught to believe in God. I came to believe in the power of systems analysis.

Spread the truth-the laws of economics are like the laws of engineering. One set of laws works everywhere.

It's important to remember how fortunate we are as a country to have a currency and a bond market that is seen in every way as a source of strength and it's a huge responsibility for us to keep it that way.

I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to it.

In this age of electronic money, investors are no longer seduced by a financial 'dance of a thousand veils.' Only hard and accurate information on reserves, current accounts, and monetary and fiscal conditions will keep capital from fleeing precipitously at the first sign of trouble.

There are idiots. Look around.

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.

It used to be said that when the U.S. sneezed, the world caught a cold. The opposite is equally true today.

The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals

I have always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted.