HBR: “Most decisions require two things of the decision-maker: the ability to predict the possible outcomes of a decision, and judgment. Prediction is largely based on data. (Given the available routes and the traffic conditions, how long is the trip likely to take?) Judgment is basically a subjective assessment of contextual factors that are not easily reduced to data. (Will this customer prefer a quick trip or the scenic route?)”
Economist: “India is one of the big development success stories of the past few decades. Since 1980, its GDP per person has grown at an annual average rate of nearly 7% (see chart), a performance matched by only a handful of other countries. But a combination of persistent regional inequality…, fractious state politics and stark differences in population growth threatens to reinforce, and potentially worsen, the country’s political divisions. That, in turn, could hurt future economic growth and make it ever harder to bridge the divide…The southern states make more money while northern states make more babies.”
Julian Simon in 1996: “The main fuel to speed the world’s progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination. The ultimate resource is people – skilled, spirited, hopeful people – who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefit as well as in a spirit of faith and social concern. Inevitably they will benefit not only themselves but the poor and the rest of us as well.” [via CafeHayek]
