131 Quotes by Ha-Joon Chang

Above a certain level of income, the relative value of material consumption vis-a-vis leisure time is diminished, so earning a higher income at the cost of working longer hours may reduce the quality of your life. More importantly, the fact that the citizens of a country work longer than others in comparable countries does not necessarily mean that they like working longer hours. They may be compelled to work long hours, even if they actually want to take longer holidays.

People 'over-produce' pollution because they are not paying for the costs of dealing with it.

The best way to boost the economy is to redistribute wealth downward, as poorer people tend to spend a higher proportion of their income.

The top 10 per cent of the US population appropriated 91 per cent of income growth between 1989 and 2006, while the top 1 per cent took 59 per cent.

The widely accepted assertion that, only if you let markets be will everyone be paid correctly and thus fairly, according to his worth, is a myth. Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people.

Running the company for the shareholders often reduces its long-term growth potential.

People who live in poor countries have to be entrepreneurial even just to survive.

Markets weed out inefficient practices, but only when no one has sufficient power to manipulate them.

A well-designed welfare state can actually encourage people to take chances with their jobs and be more, not less, open to changes.