The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking.

Governments do not necessarily act in the national interest, especially when making detailed microeconomic interventions. Instead, they are influenced by interest group pressures. The kinds of interventions that new trade theory suggests can raise national income will typically raise the welfare of small, fortunate groups by large amounts, while imposing costs on larger, more diffuse groups.

The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century ... has taken place via globalization.

The great thing about fiscal policy is that it has a direct impact and doesn't require you to bind the hands of future policymakers.

When stock prices are rising, it's called ''momentum investing''; when they are falling, it's called ''panic.''

The economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working Americans. And now it looks as if it never will.

Surely I'm not the only person to ask the obvious question: How different, really, is Mr. Madoff's tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole?