Top James Surowiecki Quotes

James Surowiecki Biography

James Michael Surowiecki (/ˌsʊəroʊˈwɪkiː/ SOOR-oh-WIK-ee; born April 30, 1967) is an American journalist. He was a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he wrote a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page".

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James Surowiecki Quotes

There are certainly valid reasons for taking a company private, and it's also possible that C. E. O. s perform better when monitored by a small number of owners in a private company rather than by the dispersed and often uninterested shareholders of a public corporation.

Corporations, Dispersed, Number, Owners, Reason, Small Numbers

I tend to delay writing by doing more research - it's really the act of writing the piece that I have the hardest time with.

Act, Delay, Pieces, Research, Time, Writing

Addictive behavior is kind of the inverse of procrastination: procrastination is about not being able to do what you want to do, addiction about not being able to not do what you don't want to do (drink, use drugs, etc. )

Procrastination, Addiction, Drug, Behavior, Kind, Drink

The value of a currency is, ultimately, what someone will give you for it - whether in food, fuel, assets, or labor. And that's always and everywhere a subjective decision.

Decision, Everywhere, Fuel, Give, Giving, Ultimately

Moviegoers love the intricacies of a crime all the more when it's for a good cause.

Cause, Causes, Crime, Intricacy, Moviegoers

Wall Street has come a long way from the insider-dominated world that was blown apart by the Great Depression.

Blown, Long, Street, Wall, World

The smartest groups, then, are made up of people with diverse perspectives who are able to stay independent of each other.

Groups, Independent, People, Perspective

Flexible supply chains are great for multinationals and consumers. But they erode already thin profit margins in developing-world factories and foster a pell-mell work environment in which getting the order out the door is the only thing that matters.

Doors, Order, World, Already, Multinationals, Profit

Of course, looking tough on inflation is part of any central banker's job description: if investors believe that inflation is going to get out of control, you end up with higher interest rates and capital flight, and a vicious circle quickly ensues.

Believe, Circles, Flight, Inflation, Jobs, Rates

Medical tourism can be considered a kind of import: instead of the product coming to the consumer, as it does with cars or sneakers, the consumer is going to the product.

Car, Considered, Product, Sneakers, Tourism

In American politics, 'Europe' is usually a code word for 'big government. '

Government, Europe, Bigs, Big, Word, Code

The history of the Internet is, in part, a series of opportunities missed: the major record labels let Apple take over the digital-music business; Blockbuster refused to buy Netflix for a mere fifty million dollars; Excite turned down the chance to acquire Google for less than a million dollars.

Apples, Buy, Google, Internet, Opportunity, Refused

Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.

Decision, Diversity, Independence, Product

The paradox of Steve Jobs's career is that he had no interest in listening to consumers - he was famously dismissive of market research - yet nonetheless had an amazing sense of what consumers actually wanted.

Amazing, Careers, Dismissive, Interest, Jobs, Listening

Paradoxically, the best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently as possible.

Act, Groups, Possible, Smart, Think, Thinking

A general principle of good taxation is that similar jobs, and similar kinds of compensation, should be taxed the same way: otherwise, the government is effectively subsidizing some jobs over others.

Jobs, Government, Principles, Taxed, Taxation

Companies often become victims of their own mythologies.

Become, Companies, Company, Mythology, Victim, Victims

Unlike fuel-economy standards, the most common method of reducing demand for oil over the past thirty years, a gas tax doesn't tell people what kind of car to drive. It simply raises the price of gasoline and lets people adjust their behavior accordingly.

Demand, Oil, Past, Tell, Years

When Americans are asked to rank professions in terms of honesty and ethics, insurance agents routinely end up near the bottom of the list - somewhere between politicians and car salesmen. Generally, insurers are seen as clever hucksters who prey on insecurity and ignorance to sell people what they don't need at prices they shouldn't have to pay.

Agents, Americans, Clever, Honesty, Ignorance, People

There are lots of people who believe there may be at least some genetic component to procrastination, and even if there isn't, it seems to be the case that procrastination habits are often set relatively early in life (that's certainly the case with me). But I also think that there's lots of evidence that external tools can help quite a bit in getting people to stop procrastinating.

Believe, Component, Life, Procrastination, Thinking

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James Surowiecki Biography

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