Profits are the lifeblood of the economic system, the magic elixir upon which progress and all good things depend ultimately. But one man's lifeblood is another man's cancer.

What counts is results, and there can be no doubt that the Soviet planning system has been a powerful engine for economic growth...The Soviet model has surely demonstrated that a command economy is capable of mobilizing resources for rapid growth.

An intriguing paradox of the 1990s is that it isn't called a decade of greed.

The consumer, so it is said, is the king each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done.

Economists have much to be humble about.

A growing nation is the greatest ponzi game ever contrived.

Asia's governments come in two broad varieties: young, fragile democracies - and older, fragile authoritarian regimes.