Description: Phishing for PhoolsThe Economics of Manipulation and Deception Author(s): George A. Akerlof, Robert J. Shiller Format: Hardback Publisher: Princeton University Press, United States Imprint: Princeton University Press ISBN-13: 9780691168319, 978-0691168319 Synopsis 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.
Price: 16.51 GBP
Location: Aldershot
End Time: 2024-12-02T12:16:50.000Z
Shipping Cost: 21.69 GBP
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 60 days
Return policy details:
Book Title: Phishing for Phools
Number of Pages: 288 Pages
Publication Name: Phishing for Phools: the Economics of Manipulation and Deception
Language: English
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Item Height: 235 mm
Subject: Economics, Finance, Psychology, Business
Publication Year: 2015
Type: Textbook
Item Weight: 482 g
Author: Robert J. Shiller, George A. Akerlof
Item Width: 152 mm
Format: Hardcover
