Phishing For Phools.
AKERLOF, George A. and Robert J. Shiller.
Phishing For Phools.
First Edition of Phishing For Phools; Signed by Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Robert Shiller
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015.
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Item Number: 70027
First edition of “this tour de force” (Alan Blinder). Octavo, original boards. Signed by Robert J. Shiller on the title page. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket illustration by Edward Koren. Jacket illustration by Jason Alejandro.
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." "In an entertaining and lively account, Akerlof and Shiller show that while the pursuit of profits may lead to products that enrich our lives, it may also lead to manipulation and deception. Much of recent innovation has led to products that make cheating the public easier. The implications are complex and profound" (Joseph E. Stiglitz).
