Macro Markets: Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks

by Robert J. Shiller

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.

Genres: Economics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Robert James "Bob" Shiller (born Detroit, Michigan, March 29, 1946) is an American economist, academic, and best-selling author. He currently serves as the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics at Yale University and is a Fellow at the Yale International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management. Shiller has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) since 1980, was Vice President of the American Economic Association in 2005, and President of the Eastern Economic Association for 2006-2007. He is also the co-founder and chief economist of the investment management firm MacroMarkets LLC.