| Description |
viii, 390 pages ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Warnings ignored -- The invisible hand -- Prices as signals -- Perfect markets -- Proof positive? -- The evangelist -- Efficient markets -- Lucasian economics -- "The prof and the polar bears" -- A taxonomy of failure -- The prisoner's dilemma -- The market for lemons -- The beauty contest -- The rational herd -- Enter the pyschologists -- The irrational herd -- Ponzi finance -- The fountainhead -- The housing boom -- Subprime delusions -- TK -- TK |
| Summary |
John Cassidy describes the rising influence of what he calls utopian economics--thinking that is blind to how real people act and that denies the many ways an unregulated free market can produce disastrous unintended consequences. He then looks to the leading edge of economic theory, including behavioral economics, to offer a new understanding of the economy--one that casts aside the old assumption that people and firms make decisions purely on the basis of rational self-interest |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-370) and index |
| Notes |
Pulitzer Prize nonfiction finalist 2010 |
| Subject |
Banks and banking.
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Financial crises.
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Monetary policy.
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Stock exchanges.
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| LC no. |
2009029529 |
| ISBN |
9780374173203 |
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