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About this quote

What does it mean?
Rukeyser argues economic incentives shape behavior regardless of ideology.
In plain terms
Money changes what people do.
What can you take from it?
Incentives drive behavior more than beliefs.

Where it applies

  • policy making
  • business strategy
  • social programs

Putting it to work

  • design incentive systems
  • test assumptions
  • measure outcomes

Questions to consider

  • What incentives govern your choices?
  • What policy changes would alter behavior?

Another view

It oversimplifies non-monetary motivations like values or culture.

More from Louis Rukeyser

  1. Trees don't grow to the sky.

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  2. Fifteen cents of every twenty-cent stamp goes for storage.

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