Jan Tinbergen

“The shaping or reformulation of the aims of economic policy which are only vaguely felt may be exemplified in the aim of social justice.”

“For some queer and deplorable reason most human beings are more impressed by words than by figures, to the great disadvantage of mankind.”

“A just social order can best be described as a humanist socialism, because its goal would be the establishment of equal possibilities within and between all countries, and at its base would lie universal human values”

“To Ehrenfest I owe a great deal. I studied physics at a time when a number of fascinating persons were there together. Ehrenfest would not instruct as such, as he preferred dialogue. Thanks to him I could participate in discussions with Albert Einstein. Also Kamerling Onnes, Lorentz and Zeeman were present. Being a student in the hands of such teachers, you are very fortunate indeed.”

“As a boundary science, econometrics is younger than the adjacent regions, which fact likewise has advantages and disadvantages. As a disadvantage, the lack of an established doctrine, and also the lack of established textbooks, can be felt; as an advantage is the fresh enthusiasm, with which its students work.”

“The world is in a process of a great transformation. In a considerable part of it a new economic order, "communism," is being vigorously tried out. Elsewhere an old order is passing as one country after another throws of the yoke of colonialism. The wholesale introduction of Western techniques and ways of life shaking the foundations of numerous beliefs and attitudes, for good and for evil.”

“The main sources of tension in today's world economy could be grouped under the following categories:”

“The factor of distance may also stand for an index of information about export markets.”

“The dominant role played by... exporters’ and importers’ GNP and distance in explaining trade flows.”

“The advantages of models are, on one hand, that they force us to present a "complete" theory by which I mean a theory taking into account all relevant phenomena and relations and, on the other hand, the confrontation with observation, that is, reality.”

“Models constitute a framework or a skeleton and the flesh and blood will have to be added by a lot of common sense and knowledge of details.”

“It is my hope that in such a way we may again, as Marx claimed, find scientific arguments in the competition between various systems, but up-to-date scientific arguments rather than obsolete ones. This more fundamental research in economics deserves relatively more attention and resources than the more superficial versions of economic research directed at forecasting or analysing very short-term fluctuations in market prices, on which quite some money is being spent to-day.”

“What matters is the di¤erence between qualities available and qualities required by the demand side, that is by the organization of production.”

“The two preponderant forces at work are technological development, which made for a relative increase in demand and hence in the income ratio... and increased access to schooling, which made for a relative decrease.”

“The central question of economic policy is the question of the effectiveness of its various instruments.”

“An inequality-furthering phenomenon is technological development. But need it be? Increasingly we get the feeling that technological development is not simply something given, but that it may be guided, within limits.”

“Educational policies deserve to be programmed not only with a view to improving education in the widest sense, but also in order to ináuence the income distribution.”