Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/in-case-you-missed-it-the-para Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter In Case You Missed It: The Paradox of Thrift Nation Apr 16, 2009 1:51 PM EDT Editor’s Note: On last night’s NewsHour, Paul examined the paradox of thrift. Here’s MIT’s Simon Johnson explaining the phenomenon in the segment: SIMON JOHNSON, MIT Sloan School of Management: Paradox of thrift is the idea that you try — everyone tries to increase their savings, so desired savings goes up, thrift being savings, but the act of trying to save pulls down the entire economy, gives you a big recession or maybe even a depression, and total savings don’t go up. Maybe they even go down. So everyone trying to save leads to a big slowdown and less savings. That’s a paradox. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now
Editor’s Note: On last night’s NewsHour, Paul examined the paradox of thrift. Here’s MIT’s Simon Johnson explaining the phenomenon in the segment: SIMON JOHNSON, MIT Sloan School of Management: Paradox of thrift is the idea that you try — everyone tries to increase their savings, so desired savings goes up, thrift being savings, but the act of trying to save pulls down the entire economy, gives you a big recession or maybe even a depression, and total savings don’t go up. Maybe they even go down. So everyone trying to save leads to a big slowdown and less savings. That’s a paradox. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now