“If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.”

—  John Maynard Keynes , book Essays in Persuasion

Essays in Persuasion (1931), Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren (1930)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that woul…" by John Maynard Keynes?
John Maynard Keynes photo
John Maynard Keynes 122
British economist 1883–1946

Related quotes

Charles Bukowski photo

“Not everybody thought they could be a dentist or an automobile mechanic but everybody knew they could be a writer.”

Charles Bukowski book Factotum

Source: Factotum (1975), Ch. 73
Context: There were always men looking for jobs in America. There were always all these usable bodies. And I wanted to be a writer. Almost everybody was a writer. Not everybody thought they could be a dentist or an automobile mechanic but everybody knew they could be a writer. Of those fifty guys in the room, probably fifteen of them thought they were writers. Almost everybody used words and could write them down, i. e., almost everybody could be a writer. But most men, fortunately, aren't writers, or even cab drivers, and some men - many men - unfortunately aren't anything.

“The models of management which individuals and organizations use come from a variety of sources. Sometimes the model comes from a theory. The theory may emerge from someone's thoughts about the desired characteristics of a manager, or about the characteristics of competent managers. Sometimes the model comes from a panel. A group of people, possibly in the job or at levels above the job within the organization, generates a model through discussion of what is needed to perform a management job competently.”

Richard Boyatzis (1946) American business theorist

Source: Competent manager (1982), p. 7.

“Decisions should be pushed down as far as possible, to the level of competence. This allows senior managers more time for making decisions of a more complex nature”

Robert Heller (1932–2012) British magician

Source: The Pocket Manager, (1987), p. 72

“A useful role exists for the economist is making calculations of the prospective costs and/or benefits of alternative policies. This role is precisely the one Keynes had in mind, I assume, when he expressed the hope that we would become useful after the fashion of dentists.”

George Stigler (1911–1991) American economist

"The Effect of Government on Economic Efficiency." 1988

Albert Jay Nock photo

“I thought our youth could manage to bear up under a little corrupting — they always have — and if they were corrupted by Communism, they stood a first-rate chance to get over it, whereas if they grew up fools or hypocrites, they would never get over it.”

Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945) American journalist

Free Speech and Plain Language (1936)
Context: I had a desultory talk with one devotee of expediency not long ago, a good friend and a thoroughly excellent man. He was all worked up over the activities of Communists and what he called pink Socialists, especially in the colleges and churches. He said they were corrupting the youth, and he was strong for having them coerced into silence. I could not see it that way. I told him it seemed pretty clear that Mr. Jefferson was right when he said that the effect of coercion was "to make one half the people fools and the other half hypocrites, and to support roguery and error all over the earth"; look at Germany and Italy! I thought our youth could manage to bear up under a little corrupting — they always have — and if they were corrupted by Communism, they stood a first-rate chance to get over it, whereas if they grew up fools or hypocrites, they would never get over it.
I added that Mr. Jefferson was right when he said that "it is error alone which needs the support of government; truth can stand by itself." One glance at governments anywhere in the world proves that. Well, then, the surest way to make our youth suspect that there may be something in Communism would be for the government to outlaw it.

Dan Fogelberg photo

“Along the road your steps may stumble
Your thoughts may start to stray
But through it all a heart held humble
Levels and lights your way.”

Dan Fogelberg (1951–2007) singer-songwriter, musician

Along the Road.
Song lyrics, Phoenix (1979)

Dean Acheson photo

“No people in history have ever survived, who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies.”

Dean Acheson (1893–1971) Statesman and lawyer
Larry Bird photo

“I wanted to compete at the highest level again - and that's the NBA.”

Larry Bird (1956) basketball player and coach

Dan Weber (October 30, 1997) "Life Is Still Good For Coach Larry", Post-Tribune, p. C1.

Muhammad Ali photo

“Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people?”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

Source: The Soul of a Butterfly (2004), p. xxiii
Context: Wouldn't it be a beautiful world if just 10 percent of the people who believe in the power of love would compete with one another to see who could do the most good for the most people? So many of us enjoy taking part in competitions, why not hold a competition of love instead of one that leads to jealousy and envy? If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other.

Joseph Alois Schumpeter photo

“Economists have never allowed their analysis to be influenced by psychologists of their time, but have always framed for themselves such assumptions about psychical processes as they have thought it desirable to make.”

Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian economist

Joseph Schumpeter, History of Economic Analysis, 1945. p. 27

Related topics