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

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 scrutin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shermer, Michael
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Times Books, 2008.
Edition:1st ed.
Subjects:
Online Access:Table of contents only
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Description
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.
Physical Description:xxiv, 308 pages ; 25 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages [263]-293) and index.
ISBN:9780805078329 (alk. paper)
0805078320 (alk. paper)