« Pessimism Porn: The New Depression | Main | QOTD: Fairness, and China's Painful Math »

Latest Stories

• Book of the Week: Animal Spirits
• Pessimism Porn: The New Depression
• Readings 02/12/09
• Fisher: The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions
• A Closer Look at Harvard's Portfolio Changes

February 12, 2009

Book of the Week: Animal Spirits

My book of the week is an easy one this time around: It's Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism, by Robert Shiller and George Akerlof. I get sent a lot of books here, most of which get shelved or sent elsewhere after a few pages, but this one is very good.

Admittedly, I'm biased as a fan of both Shiller's and Akerlof's. Believe me , however, when I say the blessedly brief Animal Spirits is a thoughtful and well-written look at how economics discarded psychology and lost its way on the trip from Adam Smith, through Keynesianism, to laissez-faire. The book puts the current crisis in a useful economic context, with consistent and practical selections from behavioral finance illuminating everything along the way. While it's not truly a book about the current depression, I am sure it will remain on my list of recommended books touching on the subject.

Highly recommended.

Sphere It   |   Digg it   |   Bookmark it   |   Stumble it   |   Facebook it