Corruption often exists because there are too many market forces, not too few.

95 percent of economics is common sense made complicated, and even for the remaining 5 percent, the essential reasoning, if not all the technical details, can be explained in plain terms.

There is no such thing as a free market.

A well-designed welfare state can actually encourage people to take chances with their jobs and be more, not less, open to changes.

Above a certain level of income, the relative value of material consumption vis-a-vis leisure time is diminished, so earning a higher income at the cost of working longer hours may reduce the quality of your life. More importantly, the fact that the citizens of a country work longer than others in comparable countries does not necessarily mean that they like working longer hours. They may be compelled to work long hours, even if they actually want to take longer holidays.

Culture changes with economic development.

We are not smart enough to leave things to the market.