Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events.

The other big narrative in Shiller's book is that of the social scientist like himself who is able to stand above the crowd of storytellers, internet trolls, and passive economic agents who spread contagious and harmful narratives, most of the time quite unknowingly. Shiller admits that "this song is probably not an important economic narrative" and that "[s]ome might say it is not even a real narrative because the words of the song do not tell a story." Most of the stories Shiller holds responsible for creating speculative bubbles or causing major economic damages are conservative narratives, from those advocating savings and frugality during the first years of the Great Depression to those, like the Laffer curve narrative, that led to the tax cuts of the 1980s. [Extracted from the article]