Research Catalog

How markets fail : the logic of economic calamities / John Cassidy.

Title
How markets fail : the logic of economic calamities / John Cassidy.
Author
Cassidy, John, 1963-
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.

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TextRequest in advance HB3722 .C37 2009Off-site

Details

Description
viii, 390 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
Summary
"In How Markets Fail, 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." "Taking the global financial crisis and current recession as his starting point, Cassidy explores a world in which everybody is connected and social contagion is the norm. In such an environment, he shows, individual behavioral biases and kinks - overconfidence, envy, copycat behavior, and myopia - often give rise to troubling macroeconomic phenomena, such as oil price spikes, CEO greed cycles, and boom-and-bust waves in the housing market. These are the inevitable outcomes of what Cassidy refers to as "rational irrationality" - self-serving behavior in a modern market setting." "Combining on-the-ground reporting, clear explanations of esoteric economic theories, and even a little crystal-ball gazing, Cassidy warns that in today's economic crisis, conforming to antiquated orthodoxies isn't just misguided - it's downright dangerous. How Markets Fail offers a new, enlightening way to understand the force of the irrational in our volatile global economy."--BOOK JACKET.
Subject
  • Banks and banking
  • Financial crises
  • Monetary policy
  • Stock exchanges
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [347]-370) and index.
Contents
Pt. 1. Utopian Economics -- 1. Warnings Ignored and the Conventional Wisdom -- 2. Adam Smith's Invisible Hand -- 3. Friedrich Hayek's Telecommunications System -- 4. The Perfect Markets of Lausanne -- 5. The Mathematics of Bliss -- 6. The Evangelist -- 7. The Coin-Tossing View of Finance -- 8. The Triumph of Utopian Economics -- Pt. 2. Reality-Based Economics -- 9. The Prof and the Polar Bears -- 10. A Taxonomy of Failure -- 11. The Prisoner's Dilemma and Rational Irrationality -- 12. Hidden Information and the Market for Lemons -- 13. Keynes's Beauty Contest -- 14. The Rational Herd -- 15. Psychology Returns to Economics -- 16. Hyman Minsky and Ponzi Finance -- Pt. 3. The Great Crunch -- 17. Greenspan Shrugs -- 18. The Lure of Real Estate -- 19. The Subprime Chain -- 20. In the Alphabet Soup -- 21. A Matter of Incentives -- 22. London Bridge Is Falling Down -- 23. Socialism in Our Time.
ISBN
  • 9780374173203
  • 0374173206
LCCN
2009029529
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries