Business and Economics

Audio only

Narrative Economics

How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic EventsBy Robert J. ShillerNarrated by Susan Osman

Length11h 7m

About this audiobook

An audiobook narrated by esteemed BBC television journalist and anchor Susan Orman, with an introduction read by the author himself—Nobel Prize-winning economist and bestselling writer Robert Shiller In a world in which internet troll farms attempt to influence foreign elections, can we afford to ignore the power of viral stories to affect economies? In this groundbreaking book, Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller offers a new way to think about the economy and economic change. Using a rich array of historical examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that affect individual and collective economic behavior—what he calls "narrative economics"—has the potential to vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises, recessions, depressions, and other major economic events. Spread through the public in the form of popular stories, ideas can go viral and move markets—whether it's the belief that tech stocks can only go up, that housing prices never fall, or that some firms are too big to fail. Whether true or false, stories like these—transmitted by word of mouth, by the news media, and increasingly by social media—drive the economy by driving our decisions about how and where to invest, how much to spend and save, and more. But despite the obvious importance of such stories, most economists have paid little attention to them. Narrative Economics sets out to change that by laying the foundation for a way of understanding how stories help propel economic events that have had led to war, mass unemployment, and increased inequality. The stories people tell—about economic confidence or panic, housing booms, the American dream, or Bitcoin—affect economic outcomes. Narrative Economics explains how we can begin to take these stories seriously. It may be Robert Shiller's most important book to date.

Audiobook details

GenreBusiness and Economics

Length11 hrs 7 mins

Narrated bySusan Osman

FormatAudiobook

Publish dateOct 1, 2019

LanguageEnglish

1Opening Anno, Preface: What is Narrative Economics?

11Chapter 10 - Panic versus Confidence

2Part 1, The Beginnings of Narrative Economics, Chapter 1 - The Bitcoin Narratives

12Chapter 11 - Frugality versus Conspicuous Consumption

3Chapter 2 - An Adventure in Consilience

13Chapter 12 - The Gold Standard versus Bimetallism

4Chapter 3 - Contagion, Constellations, and Confluence

14Chapter 13 - Labor-Saving Machines Replace Many Jobs

5Chapter 4 - Why Do Some Narratives Go Viral?

15Chapter 14 - Automation and Artificial Intelligence Replace Almost All Jobs

Show all chapters

6Chapter 5 - The Laffer Curve and Rubik's Cube Go Viral

16Chapter 15 - Real Estate Booms and Busts

7Chapter 6 - Diverse Evidence on the Virality of Economics Narratives

17Chapter 16 - Stock Market Bubbles

8Part 2, The Foundations of Narrative Economics, Chapter 7 - Causality and Constellations

18Chapter 17 - Boycotts, Profiteers, and Evil Business

9Chapter 8 - Seven Propositions of Narrative Economics

19Chapter 18 - The Wage-Price Spiral and Evil Labor Unions

10Part 3, Perennial Economic Narratives, Chapter 9 - Recurrence and Mutation

20Part 4, Advancing Narrative Economics, Chapter 19 - Future Narratives, Future Research, Closing Anno

About the author

Robert J. Shiller

View all by Robert J. Shiller

More from Business and Economics

Shift Your MindBrian Levenson7h 42m$18 · $0

Breaking the MoldRohit Lamba, Raghuram G. Rajan10h 46m$25 · $0

Terror and TruthUnknown Author9h 21m$30

The BookieArt Manteris, Matt Birkbeck8h 35m$26

How to Create a Commanding PresenceMade for Success57m$5

RenewalAnne-Marie Slaughter6h 12m$19 · $0

Success FreakBruno Gralpois5h 30m$20 · $0

Street PricingMarcos Rivera5h 28m$15 · $0

Between Debt and the DevilAdair Turner11h 17m$21 · $0

Lessons Learned on Bay StreetDon Johnson5h 26m$15 · $0

Closing the Equity GapFreada Kapor Klein, Mitchell Kapor9h 12m$29

UnconventionalDave Werklund9h$21 · $0

An Infinite HistoryEmma Rothschild13h 1m$34 · $0

Sacred MoneyGenevieve Chavez Mitchell7h 16m$20 · $0

ADHD for Smart Ass WomenTracy Otsuka7h 34m$26

Real Estate, A Love StoryJoshua Benaim7h 12m$1 · $0

The 4% FixKarma Brown5h 42m$24

Shared Prosperity in a Fractured WorldDani Rodrik9h 15m$28 · $0

Crossing the ChasmGeoffrey A. Moore9h 45m$29

The NetworkScott Woolley8h 8m$24

View all