Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism

著者 : George A.Akerlof Robert J.Shiller

• Princeton Univ Pr (2010年2月21日発売)

作品紹介・あらすじ

The global financial crisis has made it painfully clear that powerful psychological forces are imperiling the wealth of nations today. From blind faith in ever-rising housing prices to plummeting confidence in capital markets, 'animal spirits' are driving financial events worldwide. In this book, acclaimed economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller challenge the economic wisdom that got us into this mess, and put forward a bold new vision that will transform economics and restore prosperity. Akerlof and Shiller reassert the necessity of an active government role in economic policymaking by recovering the idea of animal spirits, a term John Maynard Keynes used to describe the gloom and despondence that led to the Great Depression and the changing psychology that accompanied recovery. Like Keynes, Akerlof and Shiller know that managing these animal spirits requires the steady hand of government - simply allowing markets to work won't do it.
In rebuilding the case for a more robust, behaviorally informed Keynesianism, they detail the most pervasive effects of animal spirits in contemporary economic life - such as confidence, fear, bad faith, corruption, a concern for fairness, and the stories we tell ourselves about our economic fortunes - and show how Reaganomics, Thatcherism, and the rational expectations revolution failed to account for them. "Animal Spirits" offers a road map for reversing the financial misfortunes besetting us today. Read it and learn how leaders can channel animal spirits - the powerful forces of human psychology that are afoot in the world economy today. In a new preface, they describe why our economic troubles may linger for some time - unless we are prepared to take further, decisive action.

感想・レビュー・書評

[自営業者さんの感想 · 2013年1月18日]

J.M.Keynesは、経済活動が経済合理性だけでなく、Animal Spiritsによっても左右され、経済変動の大きな要因はこのAnimal Spiritsにあると考えた。

経済学の大御所であり、本書の著者であるAkerofとShillerは、このAnimal Spiritsによって、昨今の複雑な経済情勢を説明できると主張する。今日のマクロ経済モデルは、高度に精緻化された「合理的モデル」であるが、これだけでは、Animal Spiritsが作用する現実の経済状況の説明や解決はできない。言い換えれば、行動経済学的な側面にも配慮する必要がある。合理的な市場を過信するのではなく、市場経済を修正する政府の役割も重要となる。

自信、公平性、腐敗や反社会性、貨幣錯覚、物語などが我々の経済活動に与える影響を理解することが必要であり、こうした要因が正常な経済活動を歪めてしまう場合には、政府の介入が必要になると示唆しているようだ。