Editing Herbert Stein (section)

==Views==
Stein was known as a [[pragmatism|pragmatic]] [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and was referred to as "a liberal's conservative and a conservative's liberal."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/09/09/economist-herbert-stein-dies/11891c3f-ae80-49e2-96f7-a414ce7b85b1|newspaper=Washington Post|author=Richard Pearson|title=Economist Herbert Stein Dies|date=September 9, 1999|access-date=June 11, 2018}}</ref> He was the author of ''The Fiscal Revolution in America''.

In one article, Stein wrote that the people who wore an "[[Adam Smith]] necktie" did so to:

<blockquote>make a statement of their devotion to the idea of free markets and limited government. What stands out in [Smith's seminal work] ''Wealth of Nations,'' however, is that their patron saint was not pure or doctrinaire about this idea. He viewed government intervention in the market with great skepticism. He regarded his exposition of the virtues of the free market as his main contribution to policy, and the purpose for which his economic analysis was developed. Yet he was prepared to accept or propose qualifications to that policy in the specific cases where he judged that their net effect would be beneficial and would not undermine the basically free character of the system.<ref>[http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2006/06/09/adam-smith-did-not-wear-an-adam-smith-necktie/ "Adam Smith Did Not Wear an Adam Smith Necktie, ''Wall Street Journal,'' April 6, 1994]</ref></blockquote>

=== Stein's Law===
Stein propounded '''Stein's Law''', which he expressed in 1986 as "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop."<ref>{{cite book|author=Herbert Stein|date=January 16, 1986|title=A Symposium on the 40th Anniversary of the Joint Economic Committee, Hearings Before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Ninety-Ninth Congress, First Session; Panel Discussion: The Macroeconomics of Growth, Full Employment, and Price Stability|series=S. HRG. ;99-637 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510030778307;view=1up;seq=270|access-date=June 4, 2018|page=262|quote=I recently came to a remarkable conclusion which I commend to you and that is that {{em|if something cannot go on forever it will stop}}. So, what we have learned about all these things is that the Federal debt cannot rise forever relative to the GNP. Our foreign debt cannot rise forever relative to the GNP. But, of course, if they can't, they will stop. [Emphasis added.]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/-130606-media-steins-law_094731626218.pdf|journal=The AEI Economist|title=Problems and Not-Problems of the American Economy|publisher=[[American Enterprise Institute]]|author=Herbert Stein|page=1|quote=I have tried to comfort people who worry about this [the budget deficit and the trade deficit] by propounding {{em|Stein's Law}}, which is that {{em|if something cannot go on forever, it will stop}}. [Emphasis added.]|year=1989|access-date=June 9, 2018}}</ref> Stein observed this logic in analyzing economic trends (such as rising [[government debt|US federal debt]] in proportion to [[GDP]], or increasing international [[balance of payments]] deficits, in his analysis): if such a process is limited by external factors, any failure to stop it through policy is not an insurmountable problem, since it is sure to stop regardless.<ref>{{cite web|title=Herb Stein's Unfamiliar Quotations|publisher=Slate magazine |author=Herbert Stein |date=1997-05-16|access-date=2007-09-24|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2561/}}</ref> A [[paraphrase]], not attributed to Stein, is "Trends that can't continue indefinitely won't."