'The degree of (economic) knowledge'

''It will be objected that I am trying to base a system on will, not on intellect. And that is one of the main reasons for my writing this treatise.

   The criminal classes have no intellectual interests. In proportion as people without intellectual interests they approach the criminal classes, and approach criminal psychology.

   No economic system is worth a hoot without 'good will'. No intellectual system of economics will function unless people are prepared to act on understanding.

   People indifferent to the definition 'le droit de faire tout ce qui ne nuit pas aux autres' will DO anything about their economic knowledge, whatever be 'the degree of that knowledge.'

Ezra Pound, from ''ABC of Economics"