Henry Hazlitt on the differences between the good and bad economist

The bad economist sees only what immediately strikes the eye; the good economist looks beyond.  The bad economist sees only the direct consequences of a proposed course; the good economist looks also at the longer and indirect consequences.  The bad economist sees only what the effect of a given policy has been or will be on one particular group; the good economist inquires also what the effect of the policy will be on all groups.

~ Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson, Chapter 1: "The Lesson," p. 16