Basically, the myth is that America has been founded on the free market; the government has done very little; it has thrived under free trade. But actually, if you look at the history, this is actually the country that has succeeded most with protectionist policies. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
If we are really serious about preventing another crisis like the 2008 meltdown, we should simply ban complex financial instruments unless they can be unambiguously shown to benefit society in the long run. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
The invention of the printing press was one of the most important events in human history. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
Gone are the days when the upper classes were terrified of the angry mob wanting to smash their skulls and confiscate their properties. Now their biggest enemy is the army of lazy bums, whose lifestyle of indolence and hedonism, financed by crippling taxes on the rich, is sucking the lifeblood out of the economy. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
As someone from a developing country, I have a problem with rich countries thinking they can tell us anything, simply because they are giving money. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
Markets are, in the end, man-made devices for utilitarian purposes, not a force of nature that we should not try to resist. If they end up serving the interests of only a tiny minority, as is increasingly the case, we have the right – and indeed the duty – to regulate them in the interest of greater social good. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
Many financial and industrial companies have been bailed out with the public’s money, but very few of those who had run those companies have been punished for their failures. Yes, the top managers of those companies have lost their jobs – but with a fat pension and mostly with a handsome severance payment. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
Imagine if all those kings and dukes hadn’t commissioned those crazy cathedrals, paintings and music… we’d still be living in sticks and mud. Because none of those things made any economic sense. Human beings’ capacity to ‘waste time’ is a miracle – but that’s exactly what art is for. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
Very often, the judgments by ordinary citizens may be better than those by professional economists, being more rooted in reality and less narrowly focused. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
I’ve read quite a few readers’ reviews of my book on Amazon, saying, ‘Ah, he criticises the free market, he advocates central planning.’ I don’t do that for a minute! But this is our black and white, dichotomous way of thinking – which has really been harmful. Ha-Joon Chang Read Quote
