South Korean - Economist | October 7, 1963 -
Unfortunately, a lot of economists wanted to make their subject a science. So the more what you do resembles physics or chemistry, the more credible you become.
Ha-Joon Chang
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Charities are now working to give people in poor countries access to the Internet. But shouldn't we spend that money on providing health clinics and safe water? Aren't these things more relevant? I have no intention of downplaying the importance of the Internet, but its impact has been exaggerated.
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Overcoming the myth that there is such a thing as an objectively defined 'free market' is the first step towards understanding capitalism.
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In the 19th century, a lot of people were against outlawing child labour, because to do so would be against the very foundations of a free market economy: 'These children want to work, these people want to employ them... what is your problem? It's not as if anyone has kidnapped them...'
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People tend to think that numbers are quite objective, but numbers in economics are not like this. Some economists say they're like sausages: you don't know what they really are until you cut into them.
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When I was growing up in South Korea in the '70s and early '80s, the country was too poor to buy original records. Everything was bootlegged.
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As a consumer, I don't create art, but I think whatever the message is, art has to touch you.
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As someone from a developing country, I have a problem with rich countries thinking they can tell us anything, simply because they are giving money.
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Why do tax havens exist? Because rich countries allow them to. If the U.S. came down on tax havens in the same way they come down on countries that trade with Iran and Cuba, we'd have no tax havens in the world.
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When we assess the impact of technological changes, we tend to downplay things that happened a while ago.
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I'm not an anti-capitalist, or anarchist. I want capitalism to work.
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Democracy, despite its limitations, is in the end the only way to ensure that policies do not simply benefit the privileged few.
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