Economics, said Mr Stanley, is 50% psychology : What we need, apparently, is not statesman but hypnotists, not scientists, but witchdoctors, not confidence born of scientific prediction of the future, but confidence created by a political Confidence Trick. There is nothing surprising in this. It is the kind of mystic Mumbo-Jumbo to which capitalism is driven when austere reason pronounces sentence of death upon it. It is the primitive recoil from reality and the burdens of reality which lies at the root of Fascist psychology.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Capitalism relies on psychology and manipulation rather than rational prediction to maintain confidence.
- In plain terms
- Economics works more on trickery than science.
- What can you take from it?
- Be wary of economic confidence built on hype.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How much of economics is psychology?
Another view
Confidence is often needed for markets to function.
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