Animal spirits
Subtitle: how human psychology drives the economy, and why it matters for global capitalism
By: George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller.
Contributors: Shiller, Robert J.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Princeton
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9780691142333
Subjects: Economics -- Psychological aspects; Finance -- Psychological aspects; Capitalism; Globalization
Description: The global financial crisis has made it painfully clear that powerful psychological forces are imperiling the wealth of nations today. From blind faith in ever rising housing prices to plummeting confidence in capital markets, "animal spirits" are driving financial events worldwide. In this book, the authors, both economists, challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and put forward a bold new vision that will transform economics and restore prosperity. They reassert the necessity of an active government role in economic policymaking by recovering the idea of "animal spirits", a term John Maynard Keynes used to describe the gloom and despondence that led to the Great Depression and the changing psychology that accompanied recovery. Like Keynes, they know that managing these animal spirits requires the steady hand of government; simply allowing markets to work won't do it. In rebuilding the case for a more robust, behaviorally informed Keynesianism, they detail the most pervasive effects of animal spirits (i.e. human psychology), in contemporary economic life, such as confidence, fear, bad faith, corruption, a concern for fairness, and the stories we tell ourselves about our economic fortune, and show how Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and the rational expectations revolution failed to account for them. The authors then offer a road map for reversing the financial misfortunes besetting us today; they teach how leaders can channel animal spirits, the powerful forces of human psychology that are afoot in the world economy today, and making them work for and not against us.
Table of contents: title: Preface
pagenum: vii; title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: xii; title: Introduction
pagenum: 1; label: Part One
title: Animal Spirits; label: One
title: Confidence and Its Multipliers
pagenum: 11; label: Two
title: Fairness
pagenum: 19; label: Three
title: Corruption and Bad Faith
pagenum: 26; label: Four
title: Money Illusion
pagenum: 41; label: Five
title: Stories
pagenum: 51; label: Part Two
title: Eight Questions and Their Answers; label: Six
title: Why do Economies Fall into Depression?
pagenum: 59; label: Seven
title: Why Do Central Bankers Have Power over the Economy (Insofar as They Do)?
pagenum: 74; label: Eight
title: Why are There People Who Cannot Find a Job?
pagenum: 97; label: Nine
title: Why Is There a Trade-off between Inflation and Unemployment in the Long Run?
pagenum: 107; label: Ten
title: Why Is Savings for the Future So Arbitrary?
pagenum: 116; label: Eleven
title: Why Are Financial Prices and Coporate Investments So Volatile?
pagenum: 131; label: Twelve
title: Why Do Real Estate Markets Go through Cycles?
pagenum: 149; label: Thirteen
title: Why Is There Special Poverty among Minorities?
pagenum: 157; label: Fourteen
title: Conclusion
pagenum: 167; title: Notes
pagenum: 117; title: References
pagenum: 199; title: Index
pagenum: 219