Steven D. Levitt Quote

It was John Kenneth Galbraith, the hyperliterate economic sage, who coined the phrase conventional wisdom. He did not consider it a compliment. We associate truth with convenience, he wrote, with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well-being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We also find highly acceptable what contributes most to self-esteem. Economic and social behaviors, Galbraith continued, are complex, and to comprehend their character is mentally tiring. Therefore we adhere, as though to a raft, to those ideas which represent our understanding. So

Steven D. Levitt

It was John Kenneth Galbraith, the hyperliterate economic sage, who coined the phrase conventional wisdom. He did not consider it a compliment. We associate truth with convenience, he wrote, with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well-being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We also find highly acceptable what contributes most to self-esteem. Economic and social behaviors, Galbraith continued, are complex, and to comprehend their character is mentally tiring. Therefore we adhere, as though to a raft, to those ideas which represent our understanding. So

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