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

Robert J. Shiller

Published by Princeton University Press 2019

Narrative Economics

How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

Robert J. Shiller

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691212074

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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

Reviews

“Excellent.”—Gillian Tett, Financial Times

“Shiller’s thorough discussion and many examples are certainly convincing as to the importance of narratives in individual economic decision-making and aggregate economic phenomena.”—Sonia Jaffe, Science

“A magisterial account.”—Steve Denning, Forbes

“An eloquent and accessible exposition of a seductive idea.”—Tim Jackson, Nature

“A wonderfully enjoyable ride. . . . Shiller’s book is filled with bite-size nuggets . . . that are easily digested and provide illuminating parallels between the virality of diseases and fads and bubbles in asset prices.”—Mihir Desai, Times Higher Education

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to the 2020 Paperback Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Preface: What Is Narrative Economics? Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xxvii
Part I. The Beginnings of Narrative Economics
1. The Bitcoin Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. An Adventure in Consilience Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
3. Contagion, Constellations, and Confluence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
4. Why Do Some Narratives Go Viral? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
5. The Laffer Curve and Rubik’s Cube Go Viral Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
6. Diverse Evidence on the Virality of Economic Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Part II. The Foundations of Narrative Economics
7. Causality and Constellations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
8. Seven Propositions of Narrative Economics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Part III. Perennial Economic Narratives
9. Recurrence and Mutation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
10. Panic versus Confidence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
11. Frugality versus Conspicuous Consumption Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
12. The Gold Standard versus Bimetallism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
13. Labor- Saving Machines Replace Many Jobs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
14. Automation and Artificial Intelligence Replace Almost All Jobs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
15. Real Estate Booms and Busts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
16. Stock Market Bubbles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
17. Boycotts, Profiteers, and Evil Business Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
18. The Wage- Price Spiral and Evil Labor Unions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
Part IV. Advancing Narrative Economics
19. Future Narratives, Future Research Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Appendix: Applying Epidemic Models to Economic Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351