Economics helps us understand the basics of human needs, production, distribution, reuse, and how to use resources better.
A nation’s economy is its backbone and is integral to its growth and development. It has been a subject of study for economists and others since time immemorial.
Here are some interesting economics quotes from economists, scholars, and others on poverty, markets, and more.
Economics Quotes On Poverty
Following are the most famous quotes on poverty by some of the most influential people of the past and present.
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”
- Mahatma Gandhi.
“The hope that poverty and ignorance may gradually be extinguished, derives indeed much support from the steady progress of the working classes during the nineteenth century.”
- Alfred Marshall.
“It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth, while investments in education, infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it, creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us.”
- William J. Clinton.
“You alleviate poverty by trickle-down economics.”
- Jacob Rees-Mogg.
“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.”
- Woody Allen.
“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”
- Plutarch.
“Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being.”
- Abhijit V. Banerjee, ‘Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking Of The Way To Fight Global Poverty’.
“Lack of money is the root of all evil.”
- George Bernard Shaw.
“Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human security everywhere.”
- Kofi Annan.
“My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice.”
- Bryan Stevenson.
“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.”
- Nelson Mandela.
“Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth... these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.”
- Ban Ki-Moon.
“Most of the people in the world are poor, so if we knew the economics of being poor, we would know much of the economics that really matters. Most of the world’s poor people earn their living from agriculture, so if we knew the economics of agriculture, we would know much of the economics of being poor.”
- Theodore Schultz.
“Poverty is the deprivation of opportunity.”
- Amartya Sen.
Economics Quotes On Markets
Here is a list of quotes on markets that will remain relevant for generations to come.
“A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.”
- Henry Ford.
“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”
- Milton Friedman.
“Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.
“Every nation on the Earth that embraces market economics and the free enterprise system is pulling millions of its people out of poverty. The free enterprise system creates prosperity, not denies it.”
- Marco Rubio.
“With the breakdown of the money economy, the practice of international barter is becoming prevalent.”
- John Maynard Keynes.
“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
- Milton Friedman.
“Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.”
- Warren Buffett.
“Market leadership can translate directly to higher revenue, higher profitability, greater capital velocity, and correspondingly stronger returns on invested capital.”
- Jeff Bezos.
“Market segmentation is a natural result of the vast differences among people.”
- Donald Norman.
“In a market economy, however, the individual has some possibility of escaping from the power of the state.”
- Peter L. Berger.
“It’s a market economy. Apparently the demand for great coaches exceeds the supply, so of course the price of good coaches is going to be high.”
- Michael Gartner.
(These economics quotes will enhance your understanding of economics.)
Economics Quotes You Didn’t Know
Following are some of the lesser-known quotes that not a lot of you might have come across.
“Again, most of the chief distinctions marked by economic terms are differences not of kind but of degree.”
- Alfred Marshall.
“Budgets are moral documents. They reflect the values of any government and when you’re compromising clean air, clean water, and lead, you’re making a statement about communities you don’t care about.”
- Tom Perez.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
- P. J. O’Rourke.
“In today’s knowledge-based economy, what you earn depends on what you learn. Jobs in the information technology sector, for example, pay 85 percent more than the private sector average.”
- William J. Clinton.
“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level.
That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”
- Ayn Rand.
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”
- Ernest Hemingway.
“Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self-interest backed by force.”
- George Bernard Shaw, ‘The Intelligent Woman’s Guide To Socialism And Capitalism’.
“The economy is the start and end of everything. You can’t have successful education reform or any other reform if you don’t have a strong economy.”
- David Cameron.
“Banks are to the economy what the heart is to the human body. They cycle necessary capital through the whole, and they are barely noticed until pressure, necessity, or crises.”
- Hendrith Smith, ‘Essays On The Banking Industry’.
“Most economic fallacies derive from the neglect of this simple insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie that one party can only gain at the expense of another.”
- Milton Friedman.
“It is in the social sphere, in the realm of politics and economics, that the Will to Order becomes really dangerous.”
- Aldous Huxley, ‘Brave New World Revisited’.
“We shouldn’t measure everything in terms of GDP figures or economics. There is something called quality of life.”
- Nigel Farage.
Economics Quotes By Famous Economists
Here is a list of economics quotes by some of the most famous economists of the past and present.
“The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.”
- John Maynard Keynes.
“Market economy favors the have against the have not”
- Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom.
“So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.”
- Milton Friedman.
“Capital is that part of wealth which is devoted to obtaining further wealth.”
- Alfred Marshall.
“The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitations services and basic education to every person on the planet. And we wonder why terrorists attack us.”
- John Perkins, ‘Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man’.
“It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science’. But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.”
- Murray N. Rothbard.
“Economics is everywhere, and understanding economics can help you make better decisions and lead a happier life.”
- Tyler Cowen.
“Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith.
“Consumption may be regarded as negative production.”
- Alfred Marshall.
“Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.”
- Adam Smith.
“When government - in pursuit of good intentions - tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.”
- Milton Friedman.
“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”
- John Maynard Keynes.
“In my opinion, a society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. A society that aims first for liberty will not end up with equality, but it will end up with a closer approach to equality than any other kind of system that has ever been developed.”
- Milton Friedman, ‘Milton Friedman Speaks: The Role Of Government In A Free Society’.
“Basically, what Economic Hit Men are trained to do is to build up the American empire. To create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful.”
- John Perkins.
“Economics is a choice between alternatives all the time. Those are the trade-offs.”
- Paul Samuelson.
“The idea that debt is necessary for trade, and has to be forgiven, is consequent to the rise of a market economy. The idea that debt is wrong and should be punished is a feature of a moral economy.”
- Jill Lepore.
“All wealth consists of desirable things; that is, things which satisfy human wants directly or indirectly: but not all desirable things are reckoned as wealth.”
- Alfred Marshall.
“Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable - and unethical.”
- Amartya Sen.
