Robert Solow

Economics American 1924 100 quotes

A Nobel laureate whose Solow-Swan model provided a fundamental framework for understanding economic growth and the role of technological progress.

Quotes by Robert Solow

Innovation is the child of freedom, not of conformity.

Speech 2001

We economists are very good at describing the world as it is, but not so good at saying what it ought to be.

Interview 1998

The Solow model is a parables, not a theory.

Lecture 2008

Productivity growth is the star performance of the American economy.

Speech 1988

Life is too short for bad coffee and bad economics.

Personal reflection 1995

The future is not what it used to be.

Interview 2005

Technological progress has been surprisingly slow.

Book chapter 2014

Economics without history is like a car without wheels.

Essay 1975

I never claimed to have invented growth theory; I just formalized it.

Nobel acceptance 1987

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.

Speech 1992

Savings are for the birds; investment is what matters.

Paper 1958

In the long run, we are all dead—wait, that's Keynes; I'm still alive.

Interview 2000

The measure of economic progress is not just GDP, but how people live.

Essay 2003

Models are to be used, not believed.

Lecture 1960

Happiness is a positive cash flow.

Witty remark 1980

The neoclassical synthesis was a useful fiction.

Book 1971

Education is the most powerful weapon for changing the world—wait, that's Mandela; but economists agree.

Speech 1996

Inequality is not inevitable; it's a policy choice.

Interview 2016

The steady state is a myth in a dynamic world.

Paper 1956

Life's too short to fold fitted sheets or solve every econometric puzzle.

Personal reflection 2002