Skip to content

Ha-Joon Chang Quotes

born 1963 South Korea

Ha-Joon Chang (Hangul: 장하준; hanja: 張夏准; born 7 October 1963) is a South Korean institutional economist specialising in development economics. Currently a reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, Chang is the author of several widely discussed policy books, most notably Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002).

South Korea
Economists

Random Ha-Joon Chang quote

46 quotes

Trade is simply too important for economic development to be left to free trade economists.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

The foundation of economic development is the acquisition of more productive knowledge.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

We are not smart enough to leave things to the market.

Corruption exists because there is too much, not too little, market.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Are you still convinced that inflation is incompatible with economic success?

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Being told by the IMF to go easy on austerity is like being told by the Spanish Inquisition to be more tolerant of heretics.

Not all countries have succeeded through protection and subsidies, but few have done so without them.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Unless we find a solution to the problem of interlocking patents, the patent system may actually impede the very innovation it was designed to encourage.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Countries are poor not because their people are lazy; their people are 'lazy' because they are poor.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

There is a big logical jump between acknowledging the destructive nature of hyperinflation and arguing that the lower the rate of inflation, the better.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Low inflation and government prudence may be harmful for economic development.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Democracy is acceptable to neo-liberals only in so far as it does not contradict the free market.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Corruption often exists because there are too many market forces, not too few.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

Culture changes with economic development.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

History is on the side of the regulators.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

The history of capitalism has been so totally re-written that many people in the rich world do not perceive the historical double standards involved in recommending free trade and free market to developing countries.

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008)

95% of Economics is common sense deliberately made complicated.

Making rich people richer doesn't make the rest of us richer.

Assume the worst about people and you get the worst.

It's not just about the current economic environment. History shows that slashing budgets always leads to recession.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ha-Joon Chang (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.