Michael Spence quotes

Globalization has redefined the competition for employment and incomes in the United States. Tradeoffs will have to be made between the two. (Michael Spence)

My father once said about being a parent that it is the only thing you do that requires a very long period of learning, and at about the time that you are becoming competent, you don't need the skills anymore. Notwithstanding this modest assessment of their parenting skills, they were wonderful parents.

Michael Spence

The research side of academic life is often viewed from the outside as a solo and, at times, lonely activity. In fact, it is quite the opposite: a communal activity in significant part where interaction and interchange generate ideas and critiques of them.

Michael Spence

We tend to think that employment is employment, and we don't ask the question: is this rewarding employment? Research establishes pretty clearly that typical notions of happiness - that more is better - really don't correspond to the way people think and feel.

Michael Spence

Labor, no matter how inexpensive, will become a less important asset for growth and employment expansion, with labor-intensive, process-oriented manufacturing becoming a less effective way for early-stage developing countries to enter the global economy.

Michael Spence

Globalization is the process by which markets integrate worldwide.

Michael Spence

Actions aimed at supporting deleveraging and balance-sheet repair - such as recognizing losses, writing down assets, and recapitalizing banks - carry longer-term benefits but short-term costs.

Michael Spence

China's continued growth and rising household income are creating opportunities for lower-income economies in low-cost manufacturing.

Michael Spence

Education is, in the end, about individual interactions and about learning.

Michael Spence

In economies with excess productive capacity, targeted investment can yield a double benefit, generating short-run demand and boosting growth and productivity thereafter.

Michael Spence

China's economic transformation began with the introduction in the 1980s of market incentives in the agricultural sector. These reforms were followed by a gradual opening to the global economy, a process that accelerated in the early 1990s. (Michael Spence)

Robotics has already made significant inroads in electronics assembly, with sewing trades - traditionally many countries' first entry point to the global trading system - likely to come next.

Michael Spence

All countries will eventually need to rebuild their growth models around digital technologies and the human capital that supports their deployment and expansion.

Michael Spence

There is no question that the recovery from the global recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis has been unusually lengthy and anemic.

Michael Spence

Monetary policy should never have been expected to shift economies to a sustainably higher growth trajectory by itself.

Michael Spence

My mother was strong-willed, demanding, and very supportive all at the same time.

Michael Spence

Reforms aimed at increasing an economy's flexibility are always hard - and even more so at a time of weak growth - because they require eliminating protections for vested interests in the short term for the sake of greater long-term prosperity.

Michael Spence