Robert J. Shiller
Robert J. Shiller
Robert James "Bob" Shiller is an American Nobel Laureate, economist, academic, and best-selling author. He currently serves as a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a fellow at the Yale School of Management's International Center for Finance. Shiller has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Researchsince 1980, was vice president of the American Economic Association in 2005, and president of the Eastern Economic Association for 2006–2007. He is also the co‑founder and chief...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth29 March 1946
CountryUnited States of America
Robert J. Shiller quotes about
There is more uncertainty than usual about job futures because computers are replacing more and more human intelligence, and globalization is proceeding at an accelerating pace.
Each profession has its own toolkit.
Life's meaning heavily benefits from lifelong bonds.
Marketers know that if people you respect - perhaps laughably including entertainers and athletes - say they like a product, you're more likely to buy.
News media stimulate bubbles, since stories about them boost their audience.
The good news is that, at least in economics, I've seen movement away from its overemphasis on mathematical models of purely rational behavior to a more eclectic and commonsense approach: research that is, among other things, more respectful of insights from psychology.
In the longer run and for wide-reaching issues, more creative solutions tend to come from imaginative interdisciplinary collaboration.
In the short run and for decisions unlikely to have broad impact, it may be more cost effective to use just one expert.
I have argued that we need livelihood insurance, which would protect people against the risk of seeing their skills and expertise no longer needed. Such insurance could be offered by the private sector.
Liberalism downplays certain of our moral senses: loyalty, authority, and sanctity.
My clinical psychologist wife of 40 years has always had a close intellectual influence on me. When I was beginning to talk openly in the economics profession about irrationality in decision-making, I received a lot of criticism. Ginny would support my views and remind me that a whole other profession - psychology - studies people's irrational sides.
Physicists have a bias to aspire to be "seers" like Einstein rather than "craftspeople" who do simple and practical research. I have seen that in economics departments. The same must be true to some extent in other departments.
Economists who adhere to rational-expectations models of the world will never admit it, but a lot of what happens in markets is driven by pure stupidity - or, rather, inattention, misinformation about fundamentals, and an exaggerated focus on currently circulating stories.
Economics is (now) about emotion and psychology.