Top Ten Quirky Quotations About Economics

The Top Ten

1 A man explained inflation to his wife thus: 'When we married you measured 36-24-36. Now you're 42-42-42. There's more of you, but you're not worth as much.' (Joel Barnett)

2 I never could work out what those damned dots meant. (Lord Randolph Churchill, on decimal points)

3 The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket. (Frank McKinney Hubbard)

4 Trickle-down theory: the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows. (J. K. Galbraith)

5 Expenditure rises to meet income. (C. Northcote Parkinson)

6 An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. (Laurence J. Peter)

7 If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people, on a level with dentists, that would be splendid! (John Maynard Keynes)

8 The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable. (Ezra Solomon)

9 In '29 when the banks went bust, our coins still read 'In God We Trust'. (E. Y. Harburg)

10 No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist. (Walter Bagehot)

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