Research Catalog

The mind of the market : compassionate apes, competitive humans, and other tales from evolutionary economics

Title

The mind of the market : compassionate apes, competitive humans, and other tales from evolutionary economics / Michael Shermer.

Author

Shermer, Michael.

Publication

New York : Times Books, 2008.

Supplementary Content

Available Online

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Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JBE 08-690	Schwarzman Building - General Research Room 315

Details

Description

xxiv, 308 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

In this eye-opening exploration, author and psychologist Michael Shermer uncovers the evolutionary roots of our economic behavior. Drawing on the new field of neuroeconomics, Shermer investigates what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and establishing trust in business. He scrutinizes experiments in behavioral economics to understand why people hang on to losing stocks, why negotiations disintegrate into tit-for-tat disputes, and why money does not make us happy. He brings together astonishing findings from psychology, biology, and other sciences to describe how our tribal ancestry makes us suckers for brands, why researchers believe cooperation unleashes biochemicals similar to those released during sex, why free trade promises to build alliances between nations, and how even capuchin monkeys get indignant if they don't get a fair reward for their work.--From publisher description.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-293) and index.

Contents

Prologue: Economics for everyone -- The great leap forward -- Our folk economics -- Bottom-up capitalism -- Of pandas, products, and people -- Minding our money -- The extinction of homo economicus -- The value of virtue -- Why money can't buy you happiness -- Trust with credit verification -- The science of good rules -- Don't be evil -- Free to choose -- Epilogue: To open the world.

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