Bjorn Lomborg Quotes

I would say it would be worth it if, in fact, it would - if you could demonstrate that that would be the case and that the results and ramifications around the world wouldn't lead to more problems and more people dying. It's a very complex issue, and that's why I think we need to decide it.

The marginal cost of doing something 'just this once' always seems to be negligible, but the full cost will typically be much higher. Yet unconsciously, we will naturally employ the marginal-cost doctrine in our personal lives.

All policy is a matter of gains and losses, upsides and downsides.

Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

I made a cold calculation that I wasn’t going to waste time on a futile struggle.

It does not matter how frequently something succeeds if failure is too costly to bear.

When a government faces an evil that might be avoided, the usual pattern is to first debate whether or not the evil is real or imagined; then determine how evil it really is; then is it an appropriate function of government to avoid it? Then what are the alternative ways to avoid it? Then what are the costs to avoid it? And finally, is the benefit of avoiding the evil worth the cost? In those cases where it is, it is by this time too late to avoid the evil and discussions shift to ameliorating the evil.

Actually, in my advanced, high-falutin' frontier economics, I often work with what I define as 'money metric utility,' and I ask people, 'Do you really want that? What are you willing to pay for that?'

About the only useful thing my economics degree taught me was that, in all decisions in life, you have to do a cost-benefit analysis.

Valuations are always much-debated. I try to center on what is the value to us. Is it solving a problems for us? If it is, we find a way to proceed. If the valuation has been overhyped on something and it doesn't make sense, we won't. It's very simple for me. I tend not to worry too much about the valuation. It's really what the value is to us.

Yes, the cost is high, but the price of neglect would be infinitely higher.

If you think of people as making decisions actively, every time we think about the cup of coffee, we say, "How much will I enjoy the cup of coffee, what else could I not do in the future because I buy this cup of coffee?

Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.

We make choices every single day of our lives and those choices mean we must give up something in exchange for another. In economics it's called an 'opportunity cost.'

nobody ever stops drinking until the cost of drinking becomes higher than the cost of not drinking.

Always find different ways to accomplish the mission. Then run a counter-analysis and list the advantages and disadvantages. When you have done that, you are ready to make a decision.

When "Why not do it?" barely outweighs "Why do it?" — don't do it.

Trade-offs have been with us ever since the late unpleasantness in the Garden of Eden.

Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions - and the way most businesses make decisions, if they want to stay in business. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.

We wait until Pandora's box is opened before we say, "Wow, maybe we should understand what's in that box." This is the story of humans on every problem.

A bird in the hand is worth what it will bring.

Suppose you had a small electrical fire and... a structural engineer [looked] at your home's wiring [and] reports that the wiring is "shot" and there is a 50% chance that your house would burn down in the next few years unless you replace all the wiring. The job will cost $20,000... so you get an independent assessment. The next engineer agrees with the first warning. You can either continue to shop for additional evaluations until you find the one engineer in 1,000 that is willing to give you the answer you want, "Your family is not in danger" or you can change the wiring.

A bird in the hand is worth more than a Bush.

From a common-sense standpoint, you're probably on the right road. The problem is, you're opening a can of worms you might not be able to shut. That might cause more problems than it solves.

You flip the switch. Flip the switch and go into work mode. You're a professional, so be a professional. You can take care of your problems later, but you still have to go to work. You still have to make things happen. One bad day could turn into a bad year if you're not careful. Or, a bad rest of your life if you're not careful. Because of one day!