We can safely abandon the doctrine of the eighties, namely that the rich were not working because they had too little money, the poor because they had much.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The idea that rich people work less due to excess money is false; poor people work more despite having less.
- In plain terms
- Rich don't work less because they have money; poor work more despite having little.
- What can you take from it?
- Income doesn't dictate work ethic simply.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What really drives work motivation?
- How does poverty affect labor?
Another view
Income does influence labor supply decisions.
More from John Kenneth Galbraith
One must always have in mind one simple fact - there is no literate population in the world that is poor, and there is no illiterate population that is anythin…
Permalink to quote #50 The great dialectic in our time is not, as anciently and by some still supposed, between capital and labor; it is between economic enterprise and the state.
Permalink to quote #52 In the first place I identify this ['the equilibrium of poverty'] with primitive agriculture, and two factors have been at work there. One is, of course, popul…
Permalink to quote #49
Related quotes
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities. The readiness to work springs from trivial, questionable motives.
Eric HofferEric Hoffer quote #94 (on the Indian presence in his country): 'Let us not ignore the fact that there is another community settled here in our midst. I refer to the Indians. They ha…
Ratu Sir Lala SukunaRatu Sir Lala Sukuna quote #1 Human beings are not efficiently designed for a capitalist system of production.
Eric HobsbawmEric Hobsbawm quote #1