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Quiz about Quotable Economists
Quiz about Quotable Economists

Quotable Economists Trivia Quiz


Match these ten famous economists with their quotes.

A matching quiz by skylarb. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
skylarb
Time
4 mins
Type
Match Quiz
Quiz #
402,420
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
282
Last 3 plays: Guest 71 (1/10), Guest 70 (2/10), Guest 161 (4/10).
(a) Drag-and-drop from the right to the left, or (b) click on a right side answer box and then on a left side box to move it.
QuestionsChoices
1. "In the long run we are all dead."  
  Friedrich Hayek
2. "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money."  
  Adam Smith
3. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."  
  Ludwig von Mises
4. "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."  
  Claude-Frédéric Bastiat
5. "When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will."  
  John Maynard Keynes
6. "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."  
  Paul Krugman
7. "Socialism is an alternative to capitalism as potassium cyanide is an alternative to water."  
  Karl Marx
8. "Taxation is theft."  
  Thomas Sowell
9. "The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles."  
  Murray N. Rothbard
10. "Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is."  
  Milton Friedman





Select each answer

1. "In the long run we are all dead."
2. "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money."
3. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
4. "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."
5. "When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will."
6. "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."
7. "Socialism is an alternative to capitalism as potassium cyanide is an alternative to water."
8. "Taxation is theft."
9. "The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles."
10. "Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is."

Most Recent Scores
Oct 23 2024 : Guest 71: 1/10
Oct 12 2024 : Guest 70: 2/10
Oct 08 2024 : Guest 161: 4/10
Sep 25 2024 : Guest 91: 0/10
Sep 06 2024 : bernie73: 4/10
Sep 05 2024 : Guest 174: 3/10

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "In the long run we are all dead."

Answer: John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes, author of "The Challenge to Prosperity" and other books on economics, challenged the intellectual orthodoxy of his day by arguing that the gold standard kept policy makers from growing the economy. He promoted an elastic currency that would allow governments to spend in times of downturns and supported using deficit spending as a response to recessions. Though unorthodox for his time, his ideas have become so established that Milton Friedman once wryly stated, "We're all Keynesians now."
2. "I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money."

Answer: Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell dropped out of high school. After joining the Marines, however, he managed to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard, earn a master's from Columbia, and then obtain a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. An economist, sociologist, and political philosopher, he has written over two dozen books.

His "Basic Economics" is an introductory volume that makes economics accessible to the layman. The quote in this question comes from "Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays." Thomas Sowell's works often explore the ways in which politicians disregard economic realities in order to pursue their own visions.

He wrote, "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it.

The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."
3. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

Answer: Adam Smith

Adam Smith, sometimes called "the father of economics," was the author of "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," which was published in 1776. He coined the term "the invisible hand" to describe the way that individuals pursuing their own interests through markets operates to benefit society:

"By directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it."
4. "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."

Answer: Friedrich Hayek

The Nobel-prizing-winning economist Friedrich August von Hayek was born in Austria but emigrated to the U.K.. Hayek made powerful arguments in defense of free markets and price as a mechanism of communication of information. An intellectual opponent of Keynes, he opposed steering markets (trying to "design" the economy) and emphasized that mal-investment injures the economy and savings precedes investment.
5. "When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will."

Answer: Claude-Frédéric Bastiat

The 19th-century French economist Claude-Frédéric Bastiat is known for his parable of the broken window, in which he counteracts the belief that destruction is good for the economy because it creates more work. The parable shows how opportunity costs and unintended consequences affect the economy in ways that are often unseen.

He was an advocate of free markets who noted, "Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone."
6. "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."

Answer: Milton Friedman

The 20th-century American economist Milton Friedman, author of "Capitalism and Freedom," was a leading figure in the Chicago School of Economics. He chiseled away at the orthodoxy of Keynesian economics, discussed the negative effects of government licensing, proposed a negative income tax and education vouchers, and rejected the Keynesian view that households adjust their consumption based on their actual income rather than their projected income.
7. "Socialism is an alternative to capitalism as potassium cyanide is an alternative to water."

Answer: Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises wrote "Human Action: A Treatise on Economics," in which he emphasized the importance of private property ownership: "If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization." An Austrian Jew, he fled the growing dangers of Nazism and settled in New York City, where he became a professor of economics at New York University.

In contrast to socialist and Marxist theories, he focused on individual human choices as the foundation of economics, and he greatly influenced economists such as Hayek and Rothbard.
8. "Taxation is theft."

Answer: Murray N. Rothbard

The full quote is: "Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State's inhabitants, or subjects."

Rothbard argued that government was unnecessary and that the free market could better provide public goods, including court systems, roads, healthcare, and defense forces. He helped to found the Mises Institute, an economic think tank.
9. "The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles."

Answer: Karl Marx

The 19th-century German philosopher and economist Karl Heinrich Marx lived in exile in England, where he worked with Friedrich Engels to publish his writings, including "The Communist Manifesto" and "Das Kapital." His theories, today called Marxism, focus on the development of human societies through class conflict, such as between the bourgeoisie ruling class that controls the means of production and the proletariat (working class) that exchanges labor for wages.
10. "Wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is."

Answer: Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman is a public intellectual and avid defender of contemporary Keynesian economics who endorses employing government deficit spending to spur slumping economies. He is the author of "The Return of Depression Economics and The Crisis of 2008" and "Arguing with Zombies," among other books.
Source: Author skylarb

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