Daily Inspiration Quote by Paul A. Volcker

A central banker isn’t supposed to sound like a tech prophet, yet Volcker lands on the real shock of globalization: it isn’t just “more” trade and “faster” news, it’s a structural break. By calling the change “a difference in kind as well as degree,” he’s rejecting the comforting idea that modern connectivity is merely an incremental upgrade to the old economy. He’s arguing that when communication becomes cheap and frictionless, the rules of the game change.

The intent is quietly political. Volcker is speaking from the vantage point of someone who watched markets move from local and legible to planetary and twitchy. Speed doesn’t just improve coordination; it compresses decision time, amplifies feedback loops, and turns small signals into large reactions. “Information transfer” here isn’t neutral. It’s the infrastructure that lets capital flee, supply chains rewire overnight, and reputations collapse in an afternoon. In that world, the traditional tools of governance (interest rates, regulation, even diplomacy) start to feel slower than the forces they’re meant to manage.

The subtext is a warning about power. “Ease of moving things around the world” sounds like logistics, but it’s also leverage: firms can arbitrage labor, taxes, and rules; workers and governments can’t relocate nearly as easily. Volcker’s phrasing is deliberately sober, but the implication is bracing: when velocity and cost collapse, inequality, volatility, and institutional strain aren’t side effects. They’re features of a newly wired system.