Robert A. Dahl - Economic Quotes

5 Sourced Quotes

View all Robert A. Dahl Quotes

It would be more realistic to think of all economic enterprise as a public service. Thought of in this perspective, a private economy is a contradiction in terms. Every economy is a public or social (not socialist) economy.

Robert A. Dahl

Probably nothing strengthened the impetus of socialists toward bureaucratic centralization more than their implacable rejection of economic controls in general and the market in particular.

Robert A. Dahl

In a magic show, mystification is a good thing, but it is hardly to be commended in an economic program.

Robert A. Dahl

I cannot stress too strongly the importance of external controls, both governmental and economic. I do not see how economic enterprises can be operated satisfactorily in a modern economy, capitalist, mixed, socialist or whatever, without some strategic external controls over the firm.

Robert A. Dahl

If democracy is justified in governing the state, then it must also be justified in governing economic enterprises, and to say that it is not justified in governing economic enterprises is to imply that it is not justified in governing the state.

Robert A. Dahl