What we know about the global financial crisis is that we don't know very much.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the uncertainty and complexity surrounding knowledge of the global financial crisis.
This quote by Paul Samuelson reflects the idea that our understanding of the global financial crisis is limited, highlighting the unpredictable nature of economics and the multitude of factors that influence financial systems. It reminds us that even experts can struggle to fully comprehend the intricate dynamics that lead to such significant events.
In practice
In a discussion about the unpredictability of economic trends at a business seminar.
To a person of analytical ability, perceptive enough to realise that mathematical equipment was a powerful sword in economics, the world of economics was his or her oyster in 1935. The terrain was strewn with beautiful theorems begging to be picked up and arranged in unified order.
I can't think of a president who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics.
My belief is that nothing that can be expressed by mathematics cannot be expressed by careful use of literary words.
Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.
My family was well off but not rich. I spent the four years I was an undergraduate working on the beach. And it wasn't because I was lazy; it was because my freshman class would go to a hundred different employers and wouldn't get a nibble. That was a disequilibrium system. I realized that the ordinary old-fashioned Euclidean geometry didn't apply.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble.
Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. Believe me, it will be enough.
It has often been found that profuse expenditures, heavy taxation, absurd commercial restrictions, corrupt tribunals, disastrous wars, seditions, persecutions, conflagrations, inundation, have not been able to destroy capital so fast as the exertions of private citizens have been able to create it.
Everyone may have some advise for the RBI. Some may advise, 'Cut your lending rates and raise the deposit rate.' How will a bank function? We take a medium term view. The bank has an 80-year-old history. I don't want to destroy it for a few decisions.
Governments must commit to sound economic and financial policies. This is how we ensure reform in the euro area - and our independence.
If you increase the quantity of money, you bring about the lowering of the purchasing power of the monetary unit.
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