Julian Simon

The world's problem is not too many people, but lack of political and economic freedom.

The world's problem is not too many people, but lack of political and economic freedom.

The standard of living has risen along with the size of the world's population since the beginning of recorded time. read more

The standard of living has risen along with the size of the world's population since the beginning of recorded time. There is no convincing economic reason why these trends toward a better life should not continue indefinitely.

Our whole evolution up to this point shows that human groups spontaneously evolve patterns of behavior, as well as patterns read more

Our whole evolution up to this point shows that human groups spontaneously evolve patterns of behavior, as well as patterns of training people for that behavior, which tend on balance to lead people to create rather than destroy. Humans are, on net balance, builders rather than destroyers.

The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of read more

The main fuel to speed the world's progress is our stock of knowledge, and the brake is our lack of imagination.

Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And read more

Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And when a person does not understand the creation of resources and wealth, the only intellectual alternative is to believe that increasing wealth must be at the cost of someone else. This belief that our good fortune must be an exploitation of others may be the taproot of false prophecy about doom that our evil ways must bring upon us.