James Mirrlees quotes

The income tax is a much less effective tool for reducing inequalities than has often been thought. (James Mirrlees)
I must confess that I had expected the rigorous analysis of income taxation in the utilitarian manner to provide arguments for high tax rates. It has not done so. View quote
James Mirrlees
Economics takes a while to learn, even if much of it is in a way quite simple. It is simple to be wrong as well as to be right, and it is none too easy to distinguish between them. View quote
James Mirrlees
The world's been pretty good at coming up with new ways of doing things. View quote
James Mirrlees
You know there's problems - you can see all the poverty and so on - but it's quite another matter to know what you can do about it. View quote
James Mirrlees
It's not going to be true that every country has the same technological possibilities, but there is no reason why it might not be more or less true. Broadly, that the idea that the same technologies should be available everywhere seems to me very plausible. View quote
James Mirrlees
When things begin to go bad, the perception of people makes it worse. View quote
James Mirrlees
An approximately linear income tax schedule is desirable; and in particular negative income tax proposals are strongly supported. View quote
James Mirrlees
Encourage your own curiosity; pursue the problems based on that. Don't get diverted by trying to do things for your own advancement. In other words, don't be lured into responding to incentives. View quote
James Mirrlees