Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events
From Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events—and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses

Stories people tell—about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin—can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril—and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior—what he calls "narrative economics"—may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions.

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Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events
From Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events—and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses

Stories people tell—about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin—can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril—and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior—what he calls "narrative economics"—may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions.

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Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

by Robert J. Shiller
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

by Robert J. Shiller

Paperback

$21.95 
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Overview

From Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events—and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses

Stories people tell—about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin—can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril—and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior—what he calls "narrative economics"—may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691210261
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 09/01/2020
Pages: 408
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert J. Shiller is a Nobel Prize–winning economist and the author of the New York Times bestseller Irrational Exuberance (Princeton), among many other books. He is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and a regular contributor to the New York Times. Twitter @RobertJShiller

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

Preface: What Is Narrative Economics? ix

Acknowledgments xxi

Part I The Beginnings of Narrative Economics

1 The Bitcoin Narratives 3

2 An Adventure in Consilience 12

3 Contagion, Constellations, and Confluence 18

4 Why Do Some Narratives Go Viral? 31

5 The Laffer Curve and Rubiks Cube Go Viral 41

6 Diverse Evidence on the Virality of Economic Narratives 53

Part II The Foundations of Narrative Economics

7 Causality and Constellations 71

8 Seven Propositions of Narrative Economics 87

Part III Perennial Economic Narratives

9 Recurrence and Mutation 107

10 Panic versus Confidence 114

11 Frugality versus Conspicuous Consumption 136

12 The Gold Standard versus Bimetallism 156

13 Labor-Saving Machines Replace Many Jobs 174

14 Automation and Artificial Intelligence Replace Almost All Jobs 196

15 Real Estate Booms and Busts 212

16 Stock Market Bubbles 228

17 Boycotts, Profiteers, and Evil Business 239

18 The Wage-Price Spiral and Evil Labor Unions 258

Part IV Advancing Narrative Economics

19 Future Narratives, Future Research 271

Appendix: Applying Epidemic Models to Economic Narratives 289

Notes 301

References 325

Index 351

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is a fascinating and important book, written in an engaging style and packed with intriguing examples."—Diane Coyle, University of Cambridge

"In this highly readable and entertaining book, Robert Shiller, extending the idea of contagious narratives with profound economic effects beyond stock-market and housing bubbles, ranges widely from old debates about the gold standard to the latest impacts of artificial intelligence. Narrative Economics contains a treasure of priceless quotations and examples and breaks new ground by tracing key words and phrases as they go viral and eventually fade away."—Robert J. Gordon, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of American Growth

"What causes the recurrent bubbles and busts in financial markets that create so much disruption in our lives? Economists have explored all sorts of possible causes, from subtle changes in monetary policy to the solar sunspot cycle. In this fascinating book, Robert Shiller argues that what really matters is a good story. Narrative economics, he argues, can explain what statistics miss, and shows how viral shifts in economic thinking resemble real epidemics."—John Quiggin, author of Economics in Two Lessons

"Ambitious and absorbing, Narrative Economics takes seriously the possibility that stories may have an economic life of their own, spreading through communities like epidemics, and it makes an extremely compelling case that studying such stories is important. The book is also a joy to read—lively, engaging, and accessible."—Rajiv Sethi, Barnard College, Columbia University

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