James Surowiecki Quotes

American - Journalist | April 30, 1967 -

Downsizing itself is an inevitable part of any creatively destructive economy.

James Surowiecki

InevitableEconomyDownsizingPart

The financial crisis of 2008 was not caused by investment banks betting against the housing market in 2007. It was caused by the fact that too few investors - including all of the big investment banks - bet too heavily on the housing market in the years before 2007.

James Surowiecki

FinancialCrisisInvestmentHousing

Publishers, naturally, loathe used books and have developed strategies to depress the secondhand market. They bring out new, even more expensive editions of popular textbooks every three to four years, in a classic cycle of planned obsolescence.

James Surowiecki

NewThreeMoreClassicOutBring

As technology improves, on-screen avatars look more and more like real people. When they start looking too real, though, we pull away. These almost-humans aren't quite right; they look creepy, like zombies.

James Surowiecki

TechnologyPeopleLookingStartLook

Real politics is messy and morally ambiguous and doesn't make for a compelling thriller.

James Surowiecki

PoliticsMessyRealMakeAmbiguous

If someone really wants my company's business, why shouldn't he be able to do everything he can - including paying me off - to get that business? Because bribery encourages people to make decisions based on the wrong criteria, which means in the business world that it distorts the efficient allocation of resources.

James Surowiecki

BusinessPeopleMeWorldDecisions

Flexible supply chains are great for multinationals and consumers. But they erode already thin profit margins in developing-world factories and foster a pell-mell work environment in which getting the order out the door is the only thing that matters.

James Surowiecki

WorkGreatDoorEnvironmentProfit

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

James Surowiecki

HealthResponsibilityGovernmentCore

Medical tourism can be considered a kind of import: instead of the product coming to the consumer, as it does with cars or sneakers, the consumer is going to the product.

James Surowiecki

MedicalSneakersKindProductComing

Disasters redistribute money from taxpayers to construction workers, from insurance companies to homeowners, and even from those who once lived in the destroyed city to those who replace them. It's remarkable that this redistribution can happen so smoothly and quickly, with devastated regions reinventing themselves in a matter of months.

James Surowiecki

MoneyCityConstructionInsurance

Besides great climates and lovely beaches, California and Greece share a fondness for dysfunctional politics and feckless budgeting.

James Surowiecki

GreatPoliticsCaliforniaLovely

When all is said and done, cheap gas is an illusion, because our reliance on gas creates a whole series of costs that aren't factored in to the pump price - among them congestion, pollution, and increased risk of accidents.

James Surowiecki

IllusionPollutionPriceSaidDone

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