Phishing for Phools

Akerlof and Shiller’s Phishing for Phools reveals how markets exploit human psychology through manipulation and deception, shaping choices across daily life.

In traditional economics, free markets are often described as engines of efficiency and prosperity. In Phishing for Phools, Nobel Prize–winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller challenge that assumption by arguing that markets frequently thrive on manipulation and deception. They introduce the idea that whenever profit exists, there will als…