In his best-selling Irrational
Exuberance, Robert Shiller cautioned that society's obsession with the stock market
was fueling the volatility that has since made a roller coaster of the financial system.
Less noted was Shiller's admonition that our infatuation with the stock market distracts
us from more durable economic prospects. These lie in the hidden potential of real assets,
such as income from our livelihoods and homes. But these ''ordinary riches,'' so
fundamental to our well-being, are increasingly exposed to the pervasive risks of a
rapidly changing global economy. This compelling and important new book presents a fresh
vision for hedging risk and securing our economic future.
Shiller describes six
fundamental ideas for using modern information technology and advanced financial theory to
temper basic risks that have been ignored by risk management institutions - risks to the
value of our jobs and our homes, to the vitality of our communities, and to the very
stability of national economies. Informed by a comprehensive risk information database,
this new financial order would include global markets for trading risks and exploiting
myriad new financial opportunities, from inequality insurance to intergenerational social
security. Just as developments in insuring risks to life, health, and catastrophe have
given us a quality of life unimaginable a century ago, so Shiller's plan for securing
crucial assets promises to substantially enrich our condition.
Once again providing an
enormous service, Shiller gives us a powerful means to convert our ordinary riches into a
level of economic security, equity, and growth never before seen. And once again, what
Robert Shiller says should be read and heeded by anyone with a stake in the economy.
Robert J. Shiller is the
Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics at Yale University. He is the author of Macro
Markets, which won the first annual Paul A. Samuelson Award of TIAA-CREF, and Irrational
Exuberance (Princeton), which was a New York Times bestseller.
366 pages