“I personally hold that the classical spirit of challenge and self-discovery is a fundamental human trait. By showing how the risk-taking activity of individuals contributes to social benefits, economics helps societies to accommodate what Augustine called our ‘restlessness of heart.’ This is the better part of our human nature. Societies that suppress this restlessness stagnate and die. The issue of morality in economics is neither the fairness of income distribution nor the stability of financial systems. It is how human institutions can be shaped to correspond to human nature—to man’s nature as an innovator.”
— Edmund S. Phelps, Economic Justice and the Spirit of Innovation | Edmund Phelps
Tagged: Innovation, Human Nature, Cultural Infrastructure, Ways To Motivate Societies
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Economic Justice and the Spirit of Innovation | Edmund Phelps firstthings.com

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