Search results for ""Author Michelle Baddeley""

Traditionally economists have based their economic predictions on the assumption that humans are super-rational creatures, using the information we are given efficiently and generally making selfish decisions that work well for us as individuals. Economists also assume that we're doing the very best we can possibly do - not only for today, but over our whole lifetimes too. But increasingly the study of behavioural economics is revealing that our lives are not that simple. Instead, our decisions are complicated by our own psychology. Each of us makes mistakes every day. We don't always know what's best for us and, even if we do, we might not have the self-control to deliver on our best intentions. We struggle to stay on diets, to get enough exercise and to manage our money. We misjudge risky situations. We are prone to herding: sometimes peer pressure leads us blindly to copy others around us; other times copying others helps us to learn quickly about new, unfamiliar situations. This Very Short Introduction explores the reasons why we make irrational decisions; how we decide quickly; why we make mistakes in risky situations; our tendency to procrastination; and how we are affected by social influences, personality, mood and emotions. The implications of understanding the rationale for our own financial behaviour are huge. Behavioural economics could help policy-makers to understand the people behind their policies, enabling them to design more effective policies, while at the same time we could find ourselves assaulted by increasingly savvy marketing. Michelle Baddeley concludes by looking forward, to see what the future of behavioural economics holds for us. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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A multidisciplinary exploration of our human inclination to herd and why our instinct to copy others can be dangerous in today’s interlinked world Rioting teenagers, tumbling stock markets, and the spread of religious terrorism appear to have little in common, but all are driven by the same basic instincts: the tendency to herd, follow, and imitate others. In today’s interconnected world, group choices all too often seem maladaptive. With unprecedented speed, information flashes across the globe and drives rapid shifts in group opinion. Adverse results can include speculative economic bubbles, irrational denigration of scientists and other experts, seismic political reversals, and more. Drawing on insights from across the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, Michelle Baddeley explores contexts in which behavior is driven by the herd. She analyzes the rational vs. nonrational and cognitive vs. emotional forces involved, and she investigates why herding only sometimes works out well. With new perspectives on followers, leaders, and the pros and cons of herd behavior, Baddeley shines vivid light on human behavior in the context of our ever-more-connected world.

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Recent developments in macroeconomic and monetary thinking have given a new impetus to the management of the economy. The use of monetary policy by way of manipulating the rate of interest to affect inflation is now well accepted by both academic economists and central bank practitioners. Beginning with an assessment of new thinking in macroeconomics and monetary theory, this book suggests that many countries have adopted the New Consensus Monetary Policy since the early 1990s in an attempt to reduce inflation to low levels. It goes on to illustrate that the explicit control of the money supply, which was fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s in the UK, US, Europe and elsewhere, was abandoned in favour of monetary rules that focus on interest rate manipulation by the central bank. The objective of these rules is to achieve specific, or a range of, inflation targets. Bringing together a distinguished cast of international contributors, this book presents a collection of papers, which discuss the following issues amongst others: the stability of the macroeconomic equilibrium monetary policy divergences in the Euro area stock market prices the US post-'new economy' bubble the information economy inflation targeting. This useful analysis of New Consensus Monetary Policy will be of great interest to financial economists and international monetary economists, as well as students and scholars of macroeconomics and finance.

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The processes of globalisation and increased economic regionalism have had profound, often destabilising, effects on modern economic and financial systems. In recognition of this fact, the editors of this fine book have collected together a diverse range of heterodox ideas surrounding the complex relationships and interactions between globalisation, regionalism and economic activity.The book promotes real-world economic issues and explores them without adopting any particular methodological, ideological or theoretical agenda. A number of influential economists explore the inter-relationships between globalisation, regionalism, finance, economic growth and development from a global perspective. Amongst other topics, the book includes comprehensive discussions on fixed versus flexible exchange rates; international liquidity; the WTO dispute settlement system; the eastward expansion of the European Union; crowding-out in export led growth; demand and supply in the New Economy; the national origin of financial liberalisation in the US; and the relationship between savings and investment. The range and depth of analysis makes this book a timely and useful contribution to current policy debates. Academics, students and scholars with an interest in globalisation, international economics and macroeconomics will do well to read this eclectic and stimulating volume.

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This enlightening and significant volume focuses on the nature, causes and features of economic growth across a wide range of countries and regions. Covering a variety of growth related topics - from theoretical analyses of economic growth in general to empirical analyses of growth in the OECD, transition economies and developing economies - the distinguished cast of contributors addresses some of the most important contemporary issues and developments in the field. These include, amongst others: endogenous growth theory Keynesian theories of the business cycle and growth unemployment and growth FDI and productivity spillovers knowledge externalities and growth. This useful analysis of the many facets of economic growth will be an essential read for those interested in economic theory and economic policy-making, as well as students and scholars of macroeconomics and finance.

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