Description
Book SynopsisMacro Markets puts forward a unique and authoritative set of detailed proposals for establishing new markets for the management of the biggest economic risks facing society. Our existing financial markets are seen as being inadequate in dealing with such risks and Professor Shiller suggests major new markets as solutions to the problem. Shiller argues that although some risks, such as natural disaster or temporary unemployment, are shared by society, most risks are borne by the individual and standards of living determined by luck. He investigates whether a new technology of markets could make risk-sharing possible, and shows how new contracts could be designed to hedge all manner of risks to the individual''s living standards. He proposes new international markets for perpetual claims on national incomes, and on components and aggregates of national incomes, concluding that these markets may well dwarf our stock markets in their activity and significance. He also argues for new liqui
Trade ReviewThe book is fresh, provocative, well written, and well argued. I recommend it not only to financial and macro-economists, but to the larger economic community interested in the character and costs of business cycles. * Journal of Economic Literature *
[This] book, unique in its approach...offers an unusual combination of passionate advocacy with precise theoretical reasoning...this book will focus the attention of economists on the idea of constructing risk markets and probably recruit not a few to Schiller's active programme of market creation. * The Economic Journal economists *
Table of Contents1. Introduction ; 2. Psychological Barriers ; 3. Mechanisms for Hedging Long Streams of Income ; 4. National Income and Labour Income Markets ; 5. Real Estate and Other Markets ; 6. The Construction of Index Numbers for Contract Settlement ; 7. Index Numbers: Issues and Alternatives ; 8. The Problem of Index Revisions ; 9. Making It Happen ; Notes ; References ; Author Index ; Subject Index
