The term flypaper theory has two distinct meanings:
- In economics, the flypaper theory is the idea that the burdens of taxation "stick" to those taxed directly instead of spreading through the economy.
- In military strategy, the flypaper theory is the idea that it is desirable to lure one's enemies into a single country or area where they can be more effectively dealt with.
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“We have our little theory on all human and divine things. Poetry, the workings of genius itself, which, in all times, with one or another meaning, has been called Inspiration, and held to be mysterious and inscrutable, is no longer without its scientific exposition. The building of the lofty rhyme is like any other masonry or bricklaying: we have theories of its rise, height, decline and fall—which latter, it would seem, is now near, among all people.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)