Raghuram Rajan Quotations

We are getting more and more into supply-driven price increases which are going to be more constraining for growth going forward. We are at a point where further substantial increases will start mattering far more.

The primary risk is of a greater slowing of house price growth than anticipated we estimate that the effect of house prices staying flat, as opposed to growing by about 5 percent, could lop one percentage point off U.S. growth.

There are times in the life of nations when they feel confident that they can take on the world, that they are capable of meeting any challenge. One reason such a mind-set is important is that it creates an intolerance for laziness, for shoddy products, for open corruption, and for the usual excuses. When people have a strong conviction that they can achieve the possibilities of the future, it makes them less tolerant of impediments in their way to it.

If India doesn't create the necessary infrastructure, it will hurt growth. India must take strong political steps to free up resources for investment.

Growth in 2005 will be about 0.1 percentage points lower as a result of Katrina.

If the economy turns down we may have more severe credit problems.

I think it's feasible, very feasible to see 10 percent growth rates. I don't think 10 percent is over-optimistic.

It is an emerging economy, and as a result there will be scandals. What I think is important is that these scandals stress-test the system and tell us where the deficiencies are.

It is always a concern when an important institution like the Bank of Italy comes under some uncertainty.

We have commented earlier, in the last World Economic Outlook, on the somewhat muted investment all over the world, especially in emerging markets.

We expect India to grow at around 7 to 7.5 % in calendar year 2006.

We see a shifting of global growth away from the United States to other countries. Whether it's enough is still for the jury to decide. The jury is still out.

As the US deficit continues to be financed easily, the optimists who think there is nothing to worry about are gaining ground over the pessimists who think an abrupt and costly adjustment is likely. But the optimists have to be right every day while the pessimists need to be right only once.

Europe's citizens do not seem convinced that the bitter medicine of continued structural reforms will cure the stasis that afflicts much of the Continent. It is a failure of politics that people have not come to see that the more they want to retain the attractive European way of life, the more the way they work will have to change.

The worry is how long will this continue.

The world economy has proved tremendously resilient over the last few years.

It would be fair to say to the world, 'You have never had it so good. But challenges are building in the background.

It would be fair to say the world has never had it so good.

People associate inflation targeting somewhat wrongly with rigidity. His theme as an academic was how to depersonalize this whole process.

People associate inflation targeting somewhat wrongly with rigidity,

Some revenue-raising measures had to be considered after Hurricane Katrina ... but we believe some of those measures are optimistic.

Oil price increases are thus unlikely to be benign going forward.

Oil is affecting inflation; it is slowly creeping up in the United States and we're seeing rising producer prices,

Oil and other commodity prices are going to have some effect over time.

A number of developments concern us. These include the excessive dependence of global demand on consumption, especially in the US, the elevated level of asset prices, particularly housing and the high and volatile price of oil. The downside risks to our forecast have thus increased.

As a result, the oil price-induced imbalances are likely to be with us for some time.

It's in the world's interests that India develop its nuclear power. To the extent that nuclear power has become safer over time, it is in India's interests to use this source.

The U.S. and China are running on processes which in the long run are unsustainable. Oil prices are proving an increasing strain on growth.

These things are not infinite. At some point, they come to an end.

The Fed will be watchful and will likely continue the process of increasing interest rates in the near term.

India, in its most advanced states, has the kinds of industries that you would see in advanced economies, not in an economy that has tremendous amounts of labor and should do low-skilled stuff.

If you actually see price declines...you could see even greater effects.

In a globally competitive economy, it is very important you insure the individual, you have a safety net for the individual, because they're at serious risk of losing their job and so on.

Higher oil prices are a clear and present danger.

House prices can't increase at the rate in which they have been going over the past few years.

We are taking a greater chance of having another crash at a time when the world is less capable of bearing the cost.

Because the free market system is so weak politically, the forms of capitalism that are experienced in many countries are very far from the ideal. They are a corrupted version, in which powerful interests prevent competition from playing its natural, healthy role.

We have very stable, solid economy; we are going through challenging times.

We have to be careful of not injecting more uncertainty than economy can handle

Our actions will be at measured pace given the current market turmoil.

For nearly two centuries, scholars and politicians have debated the future of capitalism. Its critics, most prominent among them Karl Marx, have seen capitalism as intrinsically unstable, full of contradictions that will lead eventually to its collapse. Its supporters see it as the best way to allocate resources and rewards. Some even hint that the democratic capitalistic society is not just a phase in the historical evolution of economic systems but its ultimate end.

When you start cutting government expenditure, at some point you are cutting essential services rather than excessive services. So you have to take into account the social costs involved in cutting government spending.

I think the willingness to listen is really a matter of confidence. You can't be so superconfident in your abilities that you ignore what others say, and you can't be so diffident in your abilities that you think that if they say something, you will be so taken in that you will do the wrong thing. When you are confident about your abilities and also fully aware of what you don't know you are willing to listen to outside experts with the full sense that if you don't find it worthwhile you will ignore it.

Capitalism’s biggest political enemies are not the firebrand trade unionists spewing vitriol against the system but the executives in pin-striped suits extolling the virtues of competitive markets with every breath while attempting to extinguish them with every action,

Let us remember that postponement of tapering is only that-a postponementLet's not lose the chance, the warning that we have been given, because this is going to come back and what we need to do is put our house in order before.