{"product_id":"phishing-for-phools-the-economics-of-manipulation-and-deception-9780691168319","title":"Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhy the free-market system encourages so much trickery even as it creates so much good\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEver 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 \u003ci\u003ePhishing for Phools\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhishing for Phools\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhishing for Phools\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge A. Akerlof\u003c\/b\u003e is University Professor at Georgetown University and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize. \u003cb\u003eRobert J. Shiller\u003c\/b\u003e is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics, and the author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller \u003ci\u003eIrrational Exuberance\u003c\/i\u003e (Princeton). Akerlof and Shiller are also the authors of \u003ci\u003eAnimal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e (Princeton).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50327229333778,"sku":"9780691168319","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d215fdae-36e2-4912-96ea-66cb503f57c9.jpg?v=1727711550","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/phishing-for-phools-the-economics-of-manipulation-and-deception-9780691168319","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}