The New Financial Order

though these have a much bigger impact on most peoples' financial security. How could we design markets to help manage such risks? This challenging problem is examined in Robert J. Shiller's book The New Financial Order. -- Hal R. Varian New York Times [A] though-provoking book. Risk Livelihood insurance. Income-linked loans. Inequality insurance. These are some of the bold and imaginative ideas suggested by Robert Shiller... [W]hile the practical barriers to some of Shiller's suggestions may be immense, there is much that is stimulating in this book. If one were to look 30 years ahead, it would be foolish to bet against at least one of his ideas being widely adopted. -- Philip Coggan Financial Times [Shiller's] ideas are striking, to put it mildly... Mr. Shiller himself is doubtful that all his ideas will be adopted. But his book, which contains some fascinating history, is at the very least thought-provoking. The Economist Unemployment is up. Housing sales are weakening. Oil prices continue to fluctuate, and the stock market remains volatile. There's no doubt we live in risky times, yet our tools for managing risk are limited... How could we design markets to help manage such risks? This challenging problem is examined in Robert J. Shiller's book... Here Mr. Shiller turns to the role of financial institutions in managing risk... It is said that behind every successful man is a surprised mother-in-law. If so, there could be quite a large market for such securities. -- Hal R. Varian New York Times Millions of individual investors could have saved themselves enormous sums of money, and an equivalent amount of grief, by taking Robert Shiller's advice three years ago... Now Shiller is back with another book that also holds warnings of sorts--this time about societal wealth inequalities and the need to mitigate what he calls 'the risks that rally matter in our lives.' If Irrational Exuberance was a sober assessment of a situation that was well known yet widely defended--the nation's infatuation with stocks--The New Financial Order is a dissertation on problems many people don't know they have... Shiller, however, has let his imagination run in this book. -- Tom Petruno Los Angeles Times In a non-technical way, Shiller engages readers in a wide-ranging consideration of risk and introduces novel ideas concerning the ways people identify, view, and guard against risk... This topic may seem to appeal to a limited audience, but the author's style enables him to broach what might have been tedious topics in an entertaining way. Choice