249 Quotes by James Surowiecki

Patrimonial capitalism’s legacy is that many people see reform as a euphemism for corruption and self-dealing.

It may be, in the end, that a good society is defined more by how people treat strangers than by how they treat those they know.

The reason advertising is governed by fear, after all, is that most agencies rely on just a few clients to bring in the lion’s share of their revenues.

Of course, plenty of people don’t think that guaranteeing affordable health insurance is a core responsibility of government.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we’d all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

I think people don’t understand compound interest because typically no one ever explains it to them and the level of financial literacy in the US is very low.

Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you’d expect. Aside from the obvious harm – poverty, difficulty paying off debts – it seems to directly affect people’s health, particularly that of older workers.

The value of a currency is, ultimately, what someone will give you for it – whether in food, fuel, assets, or labor. And that’s always and everywhere a subjective decision.

Pop music thrives on repetition. You know a song’s a hit when you’ve heard it so often that you’ll be happy never to hear it again.