93 Quotes by Edmund Phelps

To prosper and advance, the American business sector is going to need a financial system oriented toward business, not 'home ownership.'

Liberal redistributionists in favor of heavy taxation place less weight on incentive than do small-government conservatives.

One reason why upturns follow downturns is that downturns tend to overshoot. People get panicky, they're afraid to stay the course, so they start selling. The other thing is that I think, as entrepreneurs keep on waiting to produce new things, that there's an accumulation of as-yet-unexploited new ideas that keeps mounting up.

My God, I don't know anyone who likes to accumulate their wealth more than the Europeans.

I grew up, until age 6, in Chicago. My parents rented their apartment and, at the end of the Depression, my parents wanted to replicate that situation. So, again, we lived in a somewhat suburban setting outside of New York City, and again, they rented.

I grew up thinking that renting is perfectly normal. And then, strangely enough, I never did buy a house. I live in New York City, and I'm still renting. My own personal narrative shows that it is possible to live a respectable life without ever having owned a home.

Italy and France could lop off their excessive wealth through a one-time tax on private wealth.

I think the 19th century is an extraordinary period with a welling up of creativity and all kinds of experimentation and exploration going on at least until 1940.

Overpaying the banks for their toxic assets could contribute capital, but that may not be politically feasible or attractive.