homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Money


Subscriber content preview

November 2, 2015

‘Phishing for Phools': Robert Shiller looks at how companies prey on our weaknesses

  • The Nobel prize winner examines the ways financial firms, casinos and pastry shops lure people into buying things that might harm them.
    • By MATTHEW CRAFT
    AP Business Writer

    NEW YORK — It's no secret we do things we know we shouldn't. We overeat, gamble away our savings and live like tomorrow will never come. One reason, two Nobel laureates argue, is that there are plenty of businesses happy to lead us astray.

    Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University, used his understanding of how human behavior can affect markets to predict the dot-com crash of the early 2000s and the housing collapse of 2007. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2013 for his work showing that stock and bond prices can move out of step with economic fundamentals even over the long run.


     
    . . .


    To read this story in full login or purchase a subscription.



    
    Email or user name:
    Password:
     
    Forgot password? Click here.