Top 6 George A. Akerlof Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The thought experiment of Adam Smith correctly takes into account the fact that people rationally pursue their economic interests. Of course they do. But this thought experiment fails to take into account the extent to which people are also guided by noneconomic motivations. And it fails to take into account the extent to which they are irrational or misguided. It ignores the animal spirits.”

— George A. Akerlof

2. “In giving customers free use of the credit card, it’s as if the stores are offering free puppies.”

— George A. Akerlof

3. “We have shown that a great deal of what makes people happy is living up to what they think they should be doing.”

— George A. Akerlof

4. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

— George A. Akerlof

5. “We discussed the focus on identity: how people think they and others should behave; how society teaches them how to behave; and how people are motivated by these views, sometimes to the point of being willing to die for them.”

— George A. Akerlof

6. “Free markets do not just produce what we really want; they also produce what we want according to our monkey-on-the-shoulder tastes.”

— George A. Akerlof

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