Phishing for phools
Subtitle: the economics of manipulation and deception
By: George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
Contributors: Shiller, Robert J., author
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780691168319
Subjects: Economics; Free enterprise; Psychological aspects
Description: Akerlof and Shiller argue that markets harm as well as help us. As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses and our ignorance through manipulation and deception. Based on the intuitive idea that markets both give and take away, they show how phishing affects everyone, in almost every walk of life. We spend our money up to the limit, and then worry about how to pay the next month's bills. The financial system soars, then crashes. In doing so they explain a paradox: why, at a time when we are better off than ever before in history, all too many of us are leading lives of quiet desperation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-256) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction. Expect to be manipulated: phishing equilibrium; title: Part one: Unpaid bills and financial crash; title: 1. Temptation strews our path; title: 2. Reputation mining and financial crisis; title: Part two: Phishing in many contexts; title: 3. Advertisers discover how to zoom in on our weak spots; title: 4. Rip-offs regarding cars, houses, and credit cards; title: 5. Phishing in politics; title: 6. Phood, pharma, and phishing; title: 7. Innovation: the good, the bad, and the ugly; title: 8. Tobacco and alcohol; title: 9. Bankruptcy for profit; title: 10. Michael Milken phishes with junk bonds as bait; title: 11. The resistance and its heroes; title: Part three: Conclusion and afterword; title: Conclusion: examples and general lessons. New story in America and its consequences; title: Afterword. The significance of phishing equilibrium.