130 Quotes by Steven D. Levitt

His best chance of doing so is to engage the public’s emotions, for emotion is the enemy of rational argument.

Why do so many frown so sternly at the idea of having fun? Perhaps out of fear that it connotes you aren’t serious. But best as we can tell, there is no correlation between appearing to be serious and actually being good at what you do. In fact an argument can be made that the opposite is true.

Just as a warm and moist environment is conducive to the spread of deadly bacteria, the worlds of politics and business especially – with their long time frames, complex outcomes, and murky cause and effect – are conducive to the spread of half-cocked guesses posing as fact.

Unless you have more information, however, it’s hard to say what’s causing what.

Human beings aren’t the most candid animals on the planet. We’ll often say one thing and do another – or, more precisely, we’ll say what we think other people want to hear and then, in private, do what we want.

You may not like this idea; none of us wants to admit that we are pack animals. But in a complicated world, running with the herd can make sense. Who has time to think through every decision and all the facts behind it? If everybody around you thinks that conserving energy is a good idea – well, maybe it is. So if you are the person designing an incentive scheme, you can use this knowledge to herd people into doing the right thing – even if they’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

The next time you encounter such a barrier, imposed by people who lack your imagination and drive and creativity, think hard about ignoring it. Solving a problem is hard enough; it gets that much harder if you’ve decided beforehand it can’t be done.

Since the science of economics is primarily a set of tools, as opposed to a subject matter, then no subject, however offbeat, need be beyond its reach.

An expert whose argument reeks of restraint or nuance often doesn’t get much attention.