Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make It Work for Everyone

by John Y. Campbell, Tarun Ramadorai

Overview

Two leading economists reveal why today’s personal finance markets are rigged against us and offer practical steps to fix them

We interact with the financial system every day, whether taking out or paying off loans, making insurance claims, or simply depositing money into our bank accounts. Fixed exposes how this system has been corrupted to serve the interests of financial services providers and their cleverest customers—at the expense of ordinary people.

John Campbell and Tarun Ramadorai diagnose the ills of today’s personal finance markets in the United States and across the globe, looking at everything from short-term saving and borrowing to loans for education and housing, financial products for retirement, and insurance. They show how the system is “fixed” to benefit those who are wealthy and more educated while encouraging financial mistakes by those who are aren’t, making it difficult for regular consumers to make sound financial decisions and disadvantaging them in some of the most consequential economic transactions of their lives. Campbell and Ramadorai describe how some even opt out of the financial system altogether, relying on unregulated and often shady mechanisms to implement necessary financial functions, with dire consequences for individuals, families, and the economy more broadly.

With the explosive growth of the global middle class, longer lifespans, and greater numbers of seniors managing their money alone, the pitfalls of personal finance now affect billions of people around the world. Fixed proposes concrete solutions that harness the expertise of economists, the power of government, and the speed of technology to restore fairness and trust in our broken system and make it work better for ordinary people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691263298
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/21/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Y. Campbell is the Morton L. and Carole S. Olshan Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the author of several books, including Financial Decisions and Markets and The Squam Lake Report (both Princeton). Tarun Ramadorai is professor of financial economics at Imperial College London. From 2016 to 2017, he served as chairman of the Inter-Regulatory Committee on Household Finance of the Reserve Bank of India.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Reasonable people make poor financial decisions—they save too little, invest unwisely, take on too much expensive debt, and have too little protection against sundry risks. Campbell and Ramadorai, two of the world’s leading authorities on personal finance, explain why the financial system is rigged against ordinary people. Always clear, never dull, and hugely informative, this book is written for the smart layperson who has never taken a finance class (and many who have) but cares deeply about fixing finance.”—Raghuram G. Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and author of Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy

“This book makes it clear that there are many avenues to improve the functioning of personal finance. The book offers ideas that can make for genuine boosts in personal well-being of ordinary people in the United States and around the world.”—Robert J. Shiller, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics and author of Irrational Exuberance

“The field of financial economics focuses almost exclusively on asset pricing, complex financial transactions, and other technical subjects to the neglect of the ultimate purpose of the financial system—allowing average people to live better, achieve life goals, and retire securely. Campbell and Ramadorai remedy this glaring oversight with a deep and insightful discussion of what is wrong with contemporary consumer finance and how to fix it.”—Ben Bernanke, former Federal Reserve Chair and Nobel Laureate in Economics

“Campbell and Ramadorai brilliantly argue that for most people the gargantuan financial system fails to deliver. Their call for public policy ‘shoves,’ rather than ‘nudges,’ to fix the personal finance market must be urgently heeded.”—Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)