Kenneth Arrow Quotes

All market response results from a reduction of uncertainty.

I think we should follow a simple rule: if we can take the worst, take the risk.

I tried to develop some theories that took account of the uncertainty in the world and the complexity in the world.

We must become more comfortable with probability and uncertainty.

If you have something at risk, you think differently.

You have to take risks.

At the simplest level, economics can better show us the consequences of our actions. Less simple are cases in which we don't have the knowledge to predict the full consequences. Global warming and climate change are examples.

Entrepreneurs have only the murkiest picture of the future in which they are making their bets, and also there is ambiguity: they don't know when they push this lever or that lever that the outcome is going to be what they think it is going to be - there is the law of unanticipated consequences.

It is always important in matters of high politics to know what you do not know. Those who think they know, but are mistaken, and act upon their mistakes, are the most dangerous people to have in charge.

I think that we have to be constantly asking ourselves, 'How do we calculate the risk?' And sometimes we don't calculate it correctly; we either overstate it or understate it.

The hardest thing to judge is what level of risk is safe.

Insufficient facts always invite danger.

Choices are easy when you have nothing to lose.

By definition, risk-takers often fail. So do morons. In practice it's difficult to sort them out.

There is the risk you cannot afford to take, and there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.

All decisions are made on insufficient evidence.

Sometimes I think we can tell how important it is to risk by how dangerous it is to do so.

Knowledge is not a guarantee of good political behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior.

There's risk in everything that you do. It's up to you to measure those risks and do what you want to do.

You don't trade in the devil you know for the one you don't know.

When anything can happen, everything matters.

Once you educate yourself, you're left with choices.

If you don't know everything, you must go on with what you do know.

Silence is the safest policy if you are unsure of yourself.

Final-offer arbitration should have great appeal for the daring (the risk seekers) who play against the timid (the risk avoiders).