Lawrence Summers Quotes

It certainly was difficult to sell NAFTA because it's always difficult to sell open markets.

Blaming speculators as a response to financial crisis goes back at least to the Greeks. It's almost always the wrong response.

The dramatic modernization of the Asian economies ranks alongside the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as one of the most important developments in economic history.

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.

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 availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals

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

The only antidote to dangerous ideas is strong alternatives vigorously advocated.

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

Deflation and secular stagnation are the risks of our time.

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

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

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.

It was wrong to allow Stalin to shape the European landscape of the 20th century. It would be even more wrong to let him shape the landscape of the 21st century

Contagion has become very much a phenomenon, and it's a phenomenon of globalization.

In politics, as in poetry, it is sometimes true that it is darkest before dawn.

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

It says something about this new global economy that USA Today now reports every morning on the day's events in Asian markets.

As long as we keep our fundamentals strong...the dollar (and) U.S. borrowing costs will do just fine.

Takeovers wouldn't cause the stock market to rise unless there is an upward reassessment of earnings (potential). People are more optimistic and confident about the future.

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

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

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.

There are idiots. Look around.

You can't have a situation in which companies proceed on a permanent basis relying only on cash from the government.

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

The major challenge for the United States is whether it can become the first outward-looking, continental, nonimperialist power in history.

Start with the idea that you can't repeal the laws of economics. Even if they are inconvenient.

With uncertainty in oil markets, a buildup of speculative pressures and the large U.S. current account deficit, there is a real possibility that Paulson's crisis-management skills will be tested.

I promise you that there are a lot of people involved in various kinds of retail activities who think they have a crucial role in the economy, and they're right.