William Vickrey Quotes

• This paper was one of my digressions into abstract economics.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Paper, Economic

• There is no reason inherent in the real resources available to us why we cannot move rapidly within the next two or three years to a state of genuine full employment.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Reason, Employment

• There is no real justification for a requirement that a budget of any sort should be balanced, except as a rallying point for those who seek to hamstring government.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Real, Requirement, Justification, Government

• The supply-side effect of a restrictive monetary policy is likely to be perverse, in that high interest rates enter into costs and thus exert inflationary pressure.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Policy, Pressure

• The nominal budget is a poor indicator of the impact of government outlays and revenues.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Country, Economy

  Tags in Budget, Government

• The insane pursuit of the holy grail of a balanced budget in the end is going to drive the economy into a depression.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Economy

• The great increase in longevity has produced a surge in the desire to accumulate assets for retirement. It has outpaced the ability of the private sector to produce assets, so we need a larger government debt.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Ability, Country

  Tags in Government, Retirement

• Practically, the desirable situation ought to be one in which any reasonably responsible person willing to accept available employment can find a job paying a living wage within 48 hours.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Job, Work

  Tags in Responsible

• Nearly all educational expenditure should be considered a capital outlay, whether it provides a future return in the form of enhanced taxable income or in terms of an enhanced quality of life.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Country, Economy, Education

  Tags in Taxes

• Larger deficits are necessary and proper means to mitigate unemployment as the far greater evil in terms of human welfare.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Human, Human Progress

• It’s insane to try to balance the budget.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Balance, Budget

• Increasingly prices are set by sellers to raise their prices without a loss of sales sufficient to wipe out the gain.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Economy

  Tags in Prices

• If unemployment could be brought down to say 2 percent at the cost of an assured steady rate of inflation of 10 percent per year, or even 20 percent, this would be a good bargain.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Country

  Tags in Unemployment

• I define genuine full employment as a situation where there are at least as many job openings as there are persons seeking employment, probably calling for a rate of unemployment, as currently measured, of between 1 and 2 percent.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Country, Job

  Tags in Employment, Unemployment

• Firms would be given initial entitlements to gross markup on the basis of past performance. These entitlements would be transferable and a market in them would be developed.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Experience, Job

  Tags in Performance

• Don’t you think you’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Thinking

• Deficits do not in themselves produce inflation, nor does a balanced budget assure a stable price level.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Economy

  Tags in Balance

• Currently a level of unemployment of 7 percent or more seems to be required to keep inflation from accelerating, a level quite unacceptable as a permanent situation.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Unemployment, Situation

• Balancing a nominal budget will solve nothing, and attempting to achieve such a spurious balance will produce much mischief.

  William Vickrey

  Topics in Economy

  Tags in Budget, Balance

William Vickrey (19)

Birth:	21st June, 1914
Death:	11th October, 1996
Nationality:	Canadian
Profession:	Economist

Related Authors

• Friedrich List
• Doug Elmendorf
• Arthur C. Brooks
• Thomas Robert Malthus
• Dan Ariely
• Alan Greenspan
• Austan Goolsbee
• Lucas Papademos
• Amado Boudou
• Marina von Neumann Whitman

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 17th April

Births

• 1960 - Peter Sotos
• 1964 - Maynard James Keenan
• 1959 - Sean Bean
• 1741 - Samuel Chase
• 1806 - William Gilmore Simms

Deaths

• 1884 - Thomas Gold Appleton
• 1998 - Linda McCartney
• 1696 - Marie de Rabutin Chantal
• 2004 - Soundarya
• 1893 - Lucy Larcom