“If the President asked you to help, I don’t think anybody could refuse, unless one felt that one couldn’t be effective.”

Letting bygones be bygones is a basic principle in economics.

Nationalization of private debts undermines prudential lender behavior and is a government intervention in the market.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

The U.S. basically wrote the rules and created the institutions of globalisation.

Development is about transforming the lives of people, not just transforming economies.

The reason that the invisible hand often seems invisible is that it is often not there.

Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight.

But while I loved all of these courses, there was an irresistible attraction of economics.

Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently.

The extra curricular activity in which I was most engaged – debating – helped shape my interests in public policy.

Multinational corporations must pay their fair share of taxes.

The more divided a society becomes in terms of wealth, the more reluctant the wealthy are to spend money on common needs.

Society can’t function without shared prosperity.

The only surprise about the economic crisis of 2008 was that it came as a surprise to so many.

Workers’ rights should be a central focus of development.

Climate change poses an existential threat to the planet that is no less dire than that posed by North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.