129 Quotes by Lawrence Summers

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

All taxes discourage something. Why not discourage bad things like pollution rather than good things like working?

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.

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

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

But ultimately what I was impressed by during my years in government was how much the intellectual climate and the prevailing intellectual notions constrained and represented the universe within which the discourse took place.

The United States basically accepted protection abroad as the price of post-war recovery. Now, that these countries have caught up to our level of prosperity, it is time for them to catch up to our level of openness.

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

The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals