Nicholas Barr quotes

First, the welfare state is not a subject apart, but fits naturally into the framework of economic analysis. Secondly, the theoretical arguments support the existence of the welfare state not only for well known equity reasons but also - and powerfully - in efficiency terms. (Nicholas Barr)
The crucial point is that any system of health care must constitute a genuine strategy-ad hoc tinkering is a guaranteed road to disaster. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Given the external benefits higher education creates, it is efficient that taxpayers subsidies should be a permanent part of the landscape. View quote
Nicholas Barr
It is argued that regulators are frequently captured by those whom they are supposed to regulate. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Efficiency advantages and disadvantages are more finely balanced than with health care - one person's 'sign of a civilized society' is another's 'society is going to the dogs. View quote
Nicholas Barr
there is an efficiency case for an institutional welfare state. View quote
Nicholas Barr
A 'socialist' country like Sweden has a highly articulated welfare state; Denmark and New Zealand (which are not highly industrialized) were among the first countries with a public system of old-age pensions; and Saskatchewan was the first Canadian province to have publicly organized health insurance. View quote
Nicholas Barr
A society is a cooperative venture for the mutual advantage of its members. View quote
Nicholas Barr
A reduction in the liberty of the least well off cannot be justified even if it is to their economic advantage. View quote
Nicholas Barr
We need a welfare state of some sort for efficiency reasons, and would continue to do so even if all distributional problems were solved. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Unless the countries of East Asia are very different, rising incomes and the weakening of extended family ties will lead to demands for rising social expenditure. (Nicholas Barr)
It has been argued that relatively poor people will borrow to buy a house, so why not to buy a degree? View quote
Nicholas Barr
In a world of certainty, the welfare state has only a small role. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Markets can be efficient or inefficient; so can governments. thus market failure is a counterpoint to government failure. View quote
Nicholas Barr
The European Commission uses an explicit relative poverty line of 60 per cent of national average income. View quote
Nicholas Barr
The welfare state is the outcome of diverse forces over nearly four centuries of developing social policy. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Money income is a flawed measure of individual welfare. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Thus social insurance, in sharp contrast with actuarial insurance, can cover not only risk but also uncertainty. View quote
Nicholas Barr
Perfect competition must hold in product and factor markets, and also (and importantly) in capital markets. The assumption has two essential features: economic agents must be price takers; and they must have equal power. View quote
Nicholas Barr
It is the welfare state that has made capitalism, with all its attendant benefits of economic growth, politically feasible... View quote
Nicholas Barr
Education to the extent that it raises an individual's future earnings, increases her future tax payments; in the absence of any subsidy, an individual's investment in education confers a 'dividend' on future taxpayers. (Nicholas Barr)
So far as school education is concerned, many of the assumptions necessary for market efficiency fail, the main problems being imperfect information, imperfect capital markets, and external effects. View quote
Nicholas Barr
By 'trading' (i.e. pooling), individuals can acquire certainty. View quote
Nicholas Barr