Bastiat and Lions

"There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.

- From an essay by Frédéric  Bastiat in 1850, "That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen






"Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil."
- From an essay by Frédéric  Bastiat in 1850, "That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen





(picture by Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates via John Mauldin)