Richard A. Epstein > Quotes

“The study of human institutions is always a search for the most tolerable imperfections.”
― Richard Allen Epstein

“The pillars of classical liberalism call for flat taxes, with revenues put to limited uses; strong property rights; and free markets.”
― Richard Epstein, Why Progressive Institutions are Unsustainable

“The sense that just about anything goes with the collection of public revenues and the making of public expenditure has contributed mightily to the current malaise.”
― Richard Epstein, Why Progressive Institutions are Unsustainable

“Securing, not prohibiting, the orderly transfer of wealth from A to B, based on wealth differentials, is the raison d'être of the [New Deal programs]. The contrast between the modern progressive and classical liberal agendas could not be more explicit.”
― Richard Epstein, Why Progressive Institutions are Unsustainable

“That effort to undermine competitive markets is no better in the market for labor than it is for goods and services.”
― Richard Epstein, Why Progressive Institutions are Unsustainable

“The desire to avoid short-term hardships leads to major dislocations in [housing] markets.”
― Richard Epstein, Why Progressive Institutions are Unsustainable

“The effect of an unlimited standing rule is to invite parties on the political fringe to displace the judgment of political actors who are likely to be more closely aligned with general public sentiment. How ironic that current law stops private litigation on standing when it is strictly necessary to preserve limited government but allows those suits that tend to undermine the stability of the median voter on matters that are better left to democratic choice.”
― Richard A. Epstein, The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government