Arthur Lewis Quotes
Inequality, he argued, is necessary to generate the savings that growth requires.
Arthur Lewis, Nobel Economist, Quoted in “The Ethical Economist,” Foreign Affairs November/December 2005
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This principle has been referred to as The Great Gatsby Curve. See {630975}.
The debate about equality and meritocracy often hinges on whether equality in a democracy is equality of results or equality of opportunity.
Rich people the world over have often sought a safe way to save their money. Unfortunately, in most counties of the world, there is not the rule of law and the limited government that is in the United States and a few other industrial democracies. So the rich of those countries will often avoid investing their money in their own country and instead invest it in the United States or another “safe” country. This lack of patriotism makes development of poorer countries that much more difficult. However, the rulers of those countries rarely do the things necessary to create a reasonably safe environment for investment. Even in America, some wealthy people will invest in other nations or “bet against the dollar” in favor of the Yen, the Swiss Franc or the Euro. During the American Revolution and the War of 1812, there was every reason for wealthy Americans to send their money to England for investment or banking there, However, most American wealthy families were patriotic enough not to maximize their personal income.
The doctrine of the Southern Cotton industry before the Civil War was that Capital should not only use labor and control labor, but that in true capitalism, Capital should own labor—slavery. This Southern hostility towards labor rights and organized labor was derived from this extremist view of capitalism.
Sir William Arthur Lewis was a Saint Lucian economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Lewis was known for his contributions in the field of economic development. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
