Edward C. Prescott

“Of all the thankless jobs that economists set for themselves when it comes to educating people about economics, the notion that society is better off if some industries are allowed to wither, their workers lose their jobs, and investors lose their capital - all in the name of the greater glory of globalization - surely ranks near the top.”

“Economists create their own worlds. We're like little gods with our artificial economics, wanting to see what happens.”

“Monetary policy causes booms and busts.”

“Despite the impression created by some economic pundits, the U.S. economy is not a delicate little machine that needs to be fine-tuned with exact precision by benevolent policymakers to keep from breaking down.”

“I love creating models and coming up with explicit structures I can play with.”

“Economic integration is the path to riches and peace.”

“If productivity grows, the economy does well.”

“At some point, the spectacular growth in China has to stop.”

“Random distributions are not good things, because people are risk-averse, and this risk adversely affects their welfare. If you get too much price uncertainty, all kinds of long-term, mutually beneficial contracts can't be entered into.”

“You can't spend your way to prosperity.”

“After World War II, there were a lot of pension funds in Europe that were fully funded, but they were pressured to hold a lot of government debt. There was a lot of inflation, and the value of all those assets fell. Those pension funds couldn't honor their promises to the people.”

“Multinational companies use their technological know-how in their foreign subsidiaries, so reciprocal multinational relationships are key - they lead to a vested interest in both countries to remaining open.”

“The money is nice, but I am not in this game for the money.”

“The Chinese are saving like mad, but they are not getting a very good return on their savings.”

“A lot of technological capital has to be absorbed person-to-person, and that happens more quickly if countries are economically integrated.”

“You need a real crisis before you have reforms.”

“There is an old maxim which states that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment. I think something similar can be said of government policy, to wit: Good policy comes from experience, and experience comes from poor policy.”

“Sometimes pessimism or optimism gets popular, and it's contagious.”

“In the category of economic superpowers, more is better than less - the more technology those leaders develop, the more we all benefit.”

“It is an established scientific fact that monetary policy has had virtually no effect on output and employment in the U.S. since the formation of the Fed.”