I just saw "The Dark Knihgt Rises" recently. I did not quite like the plot, especially the ending...(what the....) However, there is a scene caught my eyes, when, "liberators" stormed into a stock exchange and tried(and succeeded) to execute a transaction that made Bruce Wayne broken.
This is an interesting metaphor, when people might think stock exchange. Individual greed might be a small drop, yet eventually all converge into stock exchange where the greed become a huge flood: One day it might wash up all your wealth.
Is that true? Shouldn't ordinary people know a thing or two about finance and even enjoy what modern finance bringing to them?
Prof. Shiller's collection of these four articles(on Bloomberg) are going to offer the readers a new perspective.
From "Walter Whitman, First Artist of Finance", Prof. Shiller brought in a few remarkable examples in American History to break the stereotype. People who deal with money should not be demonized, even some of them were among the notable philosophers and, even, musicians and artists. Money is a tool, a tool for them to carry out the work they wanted to achieve most. Some managed it well; some did not. Regardless the results, they noticed the life is still bounded by gravity of economic force: which means everyone needs a constant flow of income to support their life.
The second article, "Finance Isn't as Amoral as It seems", should divide into two parts. First, he summarize and explore what common biases people might present when approaching to financial market, which, has a great resemblance to Casino. Such studies, once I was taught in a course named behavioral economics, shed lights on a series of studies on the economic decision of human beings. The second part, including an interesting survey done in New York and Moscow, talks of the charity behavior of famous capitalist. The survey at the end is quite interesting: I think the finding might lead us to think:
"Do people really resent those who take steps to be a capitalist, or they resent the unfair practices disguise under the name of "Capitalism" ?"
The third article, "Do not Resent the Rich, Fix the Tax Code", talks of the hot issue nowadays: Tax, and Tax code. People tend to consider, the underprivileged has little access to financial resources they need, even for basic living. Some of the privileged ones, if not all, do not possess the wealth due to their efforts, but their family name. In such sense, Government, as a key entity in economy, should levy taxes accordingly to eliminate such inequality. Prof. Shiller proposed a few alternatives compared to the current ones.
Injustice and inequality have always been a tough questions for economist to answer. I cannot say I fully agree his position, yet his proposals are quite interesting.
The fourth and final article, "Logic of Finance can Barnish Corruption" Actually, I think the content is a bit off the topic, yet the logic can still be built. If a powerful mean is only controlled by few, let's say, a particular social class, corruption can be easily committed and hardly discovered (to the public). Therefore, such social class can retain their position and power and, arguably, keep exploiting those who has less. (of capital, knowledge, you name it!)
As I did accounting for my bachelor, there is one sentence we usually say in my security law class: "Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." (Louis Brandeis, 1904)
Here, Prof. Shiller, if not explicitly, argues the same idea. If we need markets to function well, we need better information disclosure system. And people should be commonly educated about the meaning of these information. Therefore, individuals can reach the best deals accordingly.So, there are two keys, information technology and financial innovation, can transform finance into a tool for the public.
Furthermore, we could built a financial system based on the understanding of human virtues. For example, charitable impulse for example, we could actually direct the wealth (belongs to the rich) to more constructive channels.
Modern financial innovations, such as Microfinance, is the recent innovation trying to make banking more humane(you see what your borrowers are asking for), and also more transparent. (Borrowers disclose their credit score and salary info to the platform). Voila, it is new, it is technology-enhanced, and it is humane.
I am not sure whether, after reading this Prof. Shiller collection could inspire my reader to change how finance/economics pictures in their mind. However, I do hope this can bring people some new insights. After all, finance is not evil, it is a tool that can be handy for everyone!
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| Oh, this is just a sticker on train, and I found it coincide with the brand on my bottle |
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