Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
970443 The Journal of Socio-Economics 2010 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

Animal Spirits (2009) is a timely and widely appreciated work focusing on the need to incorporate behavioral factors in macroeconomic analysis that draws on a famous reference of John Maynard Keynes. Nonetheless, it has a number of limitations. Those in several chapters are noted. Most important, however, the book does not break down “animal spirits” into its components, and distinguish sufficiently between (1) cognitive, (2) emotional, (3) cultural, and (4) visceral factors, or (5) those emanating from neuroeconomics. There is not enough reference to the advances of behavioral microeconomics and there is no explanation why so little progress has been made in behavioral macroeconomics despite approximately fifteen years of efforts.

Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Economics, Econometrics and Finance Economics and Econometrics
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