George A. Akerlof Books

The collection showcases George A. Akerlof's influential papers that have reshaped modern economics over two decades. It is divided into micro- and macroeconomic themes, addressing topics such as the economics of information, unemployment theory, macroeconomic equilibria, and the interplay between psychology and economics. Akerlof's comprehensive introduction weaves together these works, illustrating their evolution and relevance, while enhancing the understanding of complex social issues like discrimination.

The essays delve into the impact of unconventional assumptions made by economists, challenging the traditional 'classical' framework that has shaped economic theory. By examining how these assumptions influence both the writing and justification of economic models, the work reveals their autonomous role in guiding economists' perceptions of the world. The exploration highlights the tension between established economic thought and innovative approaches, offering fresh insights into the discipline's foundational beliefs.

Provides an important way to understand human behavior, revealing how our identities - and not just economic incentives - influence our decisions. This title explains how our conception of who we are and who we want to be may shape our economic lives more than any other factor, affecting how hard we work, and how we learn, spend, and save.

From acclaimed economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, the case for why government is needed to restore confidence in the economy 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, acclaimed economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and put forward a bold new vision that will transform economics and restore prosperity. Akerlof and Shiller 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, Akerlof and Shiller 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 in contemporary economic life—such as confidence, fear, bad faith, corruption, a concern for fairness, and the stories we tell ourselves about our economic fortunes—and show how Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and the rational expectations revolution failed to account for them. Animal Spirits offers a road map for reversing the financial misfortunes besetting us today. Read it and learn how leaders can channel animal spirits—the powerful forces of human psychology that are afoot in the world economy today.

Top economists consider how to conduct policy in a world where previous beliefs have been shattered by the recent financial and economic crises. Since 2008, economic policymakers and researchers have occupied a brave new economic world. Previous consensuses have been upended, former assumptions have been cast into doubt, and new approaches have yet to stand the test of time. Policymakers have been forced to improvise and researchers to rethink basic theory. George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate and one of this volume's editors, compares the crisis to a cat stuck in a tree, afraid to move. In April 2013, the International Monetary Fund brought together leading economists and economic policymakers to discuss the slowly emerging contours of the macroeconomic future. This book offers their combined insights. The editors and contributors—who include the Nobel Laureate and bestselling author Joseph Stiglitz, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen, and the former Governor of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer—consider the lessons learned from the crisis and its aftermath. They discuss, among other things, post-crisis questions about the traditional policy focus on inflation; macroprudential tools (which focus on the stability of the entire financial system rather than of individual firms) and their effectiveness; fiscal stimulus, public debt, and fiscal consolidation; and exchange rate arrangements.

Ever since Adam Smith, the central teaching of economics has been that free markets provide us with material well-being, as if by an invisible hand. In Phishing for Phools, Nobel Prize-winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller deliver a fundamental challenge to this insight, arguing 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. Rather than being essentially benign and always creating the greater good, markets are inherently filled with tricks and traps and will "phish" us as "phools." Phishing for Phools therefore strikes a radically new direction in economics, based on the intuitive idea that markets both give and take away. Akerlof and Shiller bring this idea to life through dozens of stories that 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. We are attracted, more than we know, by advertising. Our political system is distorted by money. We pay too much for gym memberships, cars, houses, and credit cards. Drug companies ingeniously market pharmaceuticals that do us little good, and sometimes are downright dangerous. Phishing for Phools explores the central role of manipulation and deception in fascinating detail in each of these areas and many more. It thereby explains 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. At the same time, the book tells stories of individuals who have stood against economic trickery--and how it can be reduced through greater knowledge, reform, and regulation

This work bridges a critical gap in the social sciences. It brings identity and norms to economics. People's notions of what is proper, and what is forbidden, and for whom, are fundamental to how hard they work, and how they learn, spend, and save.

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.

Globalny kryzys finansowy był bolesną nauczką, dzięki kt�rej stało się jasne, że dobrobytem narod�w rządzą potężne siły psychiczne. Zwierzęce instynkty są motorem, kt�ry uruchamia takie zjawiska jak ślepa wiara w stale rosnące ceny nieruchomości czy gwałtowny spadek zaufania do rynk�w kapitałowych. Zjawiska te występują w finansach na całym świecie. Uznani ekonomiści, George A. Akerlof i Robert J. Shiller podważają dotychczasowe pojęcie o ekonomii, kt�re sprowadziło na nas niedawne zamieszanie związane z kryzysem, wykładając śmiałą wizję, kt�ra ma szansę odmienić gospodarkę i doprowadzić do jej ponownego rozkwitu. Książka Zwierzęce instynkty stanowi przewodnik, dzięki kt�remu możemy dotrzeć tam, gdzie nie ma niepowodzeń finansowych, jakie dotykają nas dziś. Warto się z nim zapoznać i dowiedzieć się, jak przyw�dcy państw i liderzy biznesu mogą wykorzystać skutki istnienia zwierzęcego instynktu dla dobra wszystkich, gdyż potężna siła ludzkiej psychiki ma ogromne znaczenie dla gospodarki całego wsp�łczesnego świata.

Seit Adam Smith ist eine der zentralen Thesen der Wirtschaftswissenschaften, dass freie Märkte und freier Wettbewerb die besten Voraussetzungen für allgemeinen Wohlstand sind. Die Wirtschaftsnobelpreisträger George Akerlof und Robert Shiller argumentieren dagegen, dass Märkte nicht von sich aus gutartig sind und sich auch nicht immer die besten Produkte durchsetzen. Die Autoren behandeln in diesem Buch erstmals die zentrale Rolle von Manipulation und Täuschung in der Wirtschaft. Anhand von zahlreichen Fallbeispielen zeigen sie, wie wir verleitet werden, mehr Geld auszugeben, als wir haben; wie wir von Werbung stärker beeinflusst werden, als wir glauben; warum wir oft zu viel bezahlen und wie massiv die Politik durch Wirtschaft beeinflusst wird.