Ronald Coase

torture data confess

“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.”

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

data speak voice truthful

"Data can't speak for itself; it's up to you to give it a voice. Try to speak truthfully."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

economics theoretical float air reality

"Existing economics is a theoretical system which floats in the air and which bears little relation to what happens in the real world."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

economist horse

"If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’"

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

silly say sing mathematics sung

"In my youth it was said that what was too silly to be said may be sung. In modern economics it may be put into mathematics."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

economic factors ignorance prejudice confusion

"We must first note that economic factors are taken into account in a world in which ignorance, prejudice, and mental confusion, encouraged rather than dispelled by the political organization, exert a strong influence on policy making."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

law property own market use

"The law of property determines who owns something, but the market determines how it will be used."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)

coase theorem enthusiast used

"I'm no enthusiast for the Coase Theorem. I don't like it, but it's widely used."

― Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013)