James M. Buchanan Quotes

Imagine that Queen Elizabeth I, in her time, had the opportunity to give out a monopoly for playing cards within the kingdom. She knew she was going to give it to one of her courtiers. These courtiers would then all try to curry her favour. Meanwhile, they would not contribute anything to the product of the kingdom, in fact, they were wasting resources trying to secure a single prize. That, more or less, is rent seeking.

Government can't give us anything without depriving us of something else.

Making products for $17 an hour that we could have purchased for 75 cents an hour wastes resources that we could have used elsewhere.

The first rule of economics is that there is an infinite number of desires chasing a finite number of goods, services and resources. The first rule of politics is to ignore the first rule of economics.

What we want as an economy is companies and people, you know, working hard to come up with creative ways to be more productive. We don't want companies and people working hard to lobby government for special tax cuts.

Everything we do in public policy prevents us from doing something else. To govern is to choose.

You cannot win if you're not at the table. You have to be where the action is.

The key to making acquisitions is being ready because you really never know when the right big one is going to come along.

If the political will is there, we can solve anything.

Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.

Personally, I believe that government, rather than money, tends to be the primary factor limiting the development of new technologies.

Governments facing population explosions and implosions will soon have no choice but to grapple with matters generally considered private.

Never let a national crisis go to waste.

Government subsidies can be critically analyzed according to a simple principle: You are smarter than the government, so when the government pays you to do something you wouldn't do on your own, it is almost always paying you to do something stupid.

Historically, central planners have generally done a poor job of managing economic resources - this we've known since the time of the Pharaohs.

The government needs to work to improve how markets perform.

I trust that I know a good part when I see one, and usually, when I see one, I have to wait for seven people to pass in order for me to get it.

Subsidising inefficient businesses does not encourage them to become more competitive and means that extra money has to be taken from tax payers for the same result. Inevitably, this reduces the total size of the economy and lowers living standards.

If you get an opportunity, you get an opportunity, but it really comes down to the people behind the scenes and the manager. You can't do anything about it.

If a private investor is raising his hand and saying, 'I don't have the conditions with which to work,' then the government has the responsibility to create those conditions.

The state knows best how to protect resources.

Opportunity cost is a huge filter in life. If you've got two suitors who are really eager to have you and one is way the hell better than the other, you do not have to spend much time with the other. And that's the way we filter out buying opportunities.

With "The Office," they said, "We don't want anyone we recognize, so give us unknown actors," and I think that was the break that I needed. Because I went in and I got the role.

The problem with opportunity cost is that opportunity cost is divided among many, many things.

I don't know what exactly the translation is but when we do consume something now, something else has to give at some point.