#incentives

When I was a child and teenager I read whenever I had the opportunity, but since then I've found it hard to read as much as I'd like, children, work, and pets all providing powerful incentives to escape into a book and a practical reason why I rarely do so. ↗

— Louise Brown

#child #children #escape #found #had

When I applied to graduate school many years ago, I wrote an essay expressing my puzzlement at how a country that could put a man on the moon could still have people sleeping on the streets. Part of that problem is political will; we could take a lot of people off the streets tomorrow if we made it a national priority. But I have also come to realize that NASA had it easy. Rockets conform to the unchanging laws of physics. We know where the moon will be at a given time; we know precisely how fast a spacecraft will enter or exist the earth's orbit. If we get the equations right, the rocket will land where it is supposed to--always. Human beings are more complex than that. A recovering drug addict does not behave as predictably as a rocket in orbit. We don't have a formula for persuading a sixteen-year-old not to drop out of school. But we do have a powerful tool: We know that people seek to make themselves better off, however they may define that. Our best hope for improving the human condition is to understand why we act the way we do and then plan accordingly. Programs, organizations, and systems work better when they get the incentives right. It is like rowing downstream. ↗

— Charles Wheelan

#goverment #humanity #incentives #politics #social-policy

The system that enables the most people to earn the most success is free enterprise, by matching up people's skills, interests, and abilities. In contrast, redistribution simply spreads money around. Even worse, it attenuates the ability to earn success by perverting economic incentives. ↗

— Arthur C. Brooks

#around #contrast #earn #economic #enables

If I make your workplace conducive to walking at lunch, or working out at some time during the day, or I get people to use the stairs more by creating incentives to do such, then people will start doing it naturally. ↗

— Mehmet Oz

#creating #day #doing #during #get

We need different perspectives here in Washington - someone who has private-sector experience, somebody who's actually created jobs, manufactures products, understands the incentives and disincentives, the intended and unintended consequences of legislation. ↗

— Ron Johnson

#consequences #created #different #different perspectives #experience

The current administration has made the decision to cut dollars going for community development block grants, for various incentives to bring cities back. ↗

— Stephanie Tubbs Jones

#back #block #bring #cities #community

Also, there are now new laws in Brazil which create incentives for Argentine and Latin American films to be premiered and distributed in Brazil and vice versa. ↗

— Walter Salles

#american #american films #brazil #create #distributed

Outright bans on plastic bags may not be the best solution, but education and incentives to get people to stop using them are necessary. ↗

— David Suzuki

#best #education #get #incentives #may

I get a bit of a kick out of exporting private enterprise and incentives. ↗

— Fred L. Turner

#enterprise #exporting #get #i #incentives

The Microsoft actions announced today are exactly the kinds of industry initiatives we need. Microsoft is using its resources to bring real privacy protection to Internet users by creating incentives for more websites to provide strong privacy protection. ↗

— William M. Daley

#announced #bring #creating #exactly #incentives