Fritz Machlup famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

The danger of tautological propositions is considerable in discussions of the concept of normal profits. Because supernormal profits seem to invite newcomers to an industry and sub-normal profits seem to drive away those who are in an industry, some writers are inclined to define normal profits as the earnings of the fixed resources in an industry which neither grows nor declines in size or number of firms. It should be clear that such a definition is useless: it muddles together attractiveness and actual afflux, desirbility of entry and ease of entry, zero profits and monopoly rents.
-- Fritz Machlup

#Zero #Numbers #Together
When I reviewed Hayek's book, The Pure Theory of Capital, it is my sincere conviction that this work contains some of the most penetrating thoughts on the subject that have ever been published.
-- Fritz Machlup

#Book #Sincere #Hayek
Information is acquired by being told, whereas knowledge can be acquired by thinking.
-- Fritz Machlup

#Thinking #Information
If we did not have a patent system, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge of its economic consequences, to recommend instituting one. But since we have had a patent system for a long time, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge, to recommend abolishing it.
-- Fritz Machlup

#Long #Patents #Would Be
One of the most original and most important ideas advanced by Hayek is the role of the 'division of knowledge' in economic society.
-- Fritz Machlup

#Ideas #Important #Roles

Pray tell us, what's your favorite number?"... "Shiva jumped up to the board, uninvited, and wrote 10,213,223"... "And pray, why would this number interest us?" "It is the only number that describes itself when you read it, 'One zero, two ones, three twos, two threes'.
If I were to write anything at all, it would turn out to be nothing but talk about movies. In other words, take 'myself,' subtract 'movies,' and the result is 'zero.'
There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of CO2 is making any measurable contribution to the world's present warming trend.
Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter.
You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the numbers of times you get back up.
Hep is a very dangerous disease that can cause a number of permanent conditions, including death, which is extremely permanent.
The search which takes place in my studio might best be described as a mining operation, a vertical dig in which a number of discoveries are apt to surface from a single shaft.
I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.
A mathematician's reputation rests on the number of bad proofs he has given.
Geniuses come in many shapes and colors, and they often run in packs. If you can find one, it may lead you to others. Collaborate with geniuses. Send them your spells. Look carefully at theirs. What could you do together? Combination is creation.

Fritz Machlup famous quotes

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