How We Misunderstand Economics and Why It Matters: The Psychology of Bias, Distortion and Conspiracy

ISBN-13: 9781138938922 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 166 str.

David Leiser; Zeev Kril

Opis

It's easy to ignore the economic forces which shape our lives. Whether it's the policy of central banks, fluctuations in currency exchange rates or the black market economy, these important phenomena play fundamental roles in everyone's lives, and yet few people actually understand them, or the consequences that result. How we misunderstand economics and why it matters explains why our cognitive styles and habits are so unsuited to fully understanding these important yet often hidden phenomena, and what this means for the way we conceive the world around us. Accessibly written, the book explores how our 'natural' way of thinking interprets key economic issues, including:

• Inflation
• Pensions
• Taxation
• Globalisation
• Financial crises

Showing how our thinking is often driven by ideas of conspiracy, morality and false causality, this is an important and timely book. It will appeal not only to students and researchers of psychology and economics, but also a range of policy makers, as well as anyone interested in how our everyday understanding of economics issues affects the societies we live in. How we misunderstand economics and why it matters explains why our cognitive styles and habits are so unsuited to fully understanding important economics forces, and what this means for the way we conceive the world around us. Accessibly written, the book explores how our 'natural' way of thinking interprets key economic issues, and shows how our thinking is often driven by ideas of conspiracy, morality and false causality. This is an important and timely book which will appeal not only to students and researchers of psychology and economics, but also a range of policy makers, and anyone interested in how our everyday understanding of economics issues affects the societies we live in.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: Folk-Economic Beliefs 2. Why is Economics So Hard? 3. Cognitive Hurdles 4. Unemployment and Inflation 5. The ‘Good Begets Good’ Heuristic: The Relations Between Macro-Economic Variables 6. What is the Economy Like? How Metaphors Shape our Understanding of Economics 7. Ideologies: Lay Understanding of Capitalism 8. Money and Wealth 9. Financial and Economic Literacy 10. Public Policy Consequences