Macro Markets

Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks

Robert J. Shiller

Clarendon Lectures in Economics

Macro Markets

Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks

Robert J. Shiller

Clarendon Lectures in Economics

Description

Arguing that we have largely inadequate financial markets, dealing with relatively small risks, Robert Shiller makes a unique set of proposals for marketizing the biggest economic risks faced by society today, risks that really matter to most people. The new markets could diminish the impact of international economic fluctuations and reduce the inequality of wealth. He proposes new international markets for claims on national incomes, on components and aggregates of national incomes, and for property such as real estate, and argues that these markets might dwarf our stock markets in their activity and significance. He challenges the widespread presumption that any such new market would be infeasible, by offering solutions to technical problems of measurement and settlement. There are proposals for implementing markets in perpetual claims and a substantial section on the construction of index numbers for use in settlement in the new markets.

Macro Markets

Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks

Robert J. Shiller

Clarendon Lectures in Economics

1. Introduction
2. Psychological Barriers
3. Mechanisms for Hedging Long Streams of Income
4. National Income and Labour Income Markets
5. Real Estate and Other Markets
6. The Construction of Index Numbers for Contract Settlement
7. Index Numbers: Issues and Alternatives
8. The Problem of Index Revisions
9. Making It Happen
Notes
References
Author Index
Subject Index

Macro Markets

Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks

Robert J. Shiller

Clarendon Lectures in Economics

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the First Paul A. Samuelson Award, TIAA-CREF 1996!

"[A] terrific book....Fresh, provocative, well written, and well argued. [Recommended] not only to financial and macro-economists, but to the larger economic community interested in the character and costs of business cycles."--Journal of Economic Literature

"The book, unique in its approach...offers an unusual combination of passionate advocacy with precise theoretical reasoning....This excellent book does more than provide a good treatment of some self-contained and specialized questions. It is also likely to initiate a research program. For what Shiller has done is to imagine a sometimes surprising and unfamiliar world in which risk-hedging and risk-spreading markets, while not necessarily complete, are at least a great deal more complete than they are at present."--The Economic Journal

"A brilliant new book that I highly recommend."--Peter L. Bernstein, Journal of Portfolio Management

"Fresh, provocative, well written, and well argued. I recommend it not only to financial and macro-economists, but to the larger economic community interested in the character and costs of business cycles."--Journal of Economic Literature