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" Even today, I am easily distracted by reading material and will pick up articles on virtually any factual material if I have the time. "

Robert J. Shiller

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" Fear causes individuals to restrain their spending and firms to withhold investments; as a result, the economy weakens, confirming their fear and leading them to restrain spending further. The downturn deepens, and a vicious circle of despair takes hold. "

Robert J. Shiller

" When valuation confidence falls, it means that stock markets are perceived as overpriced. "

Robert J. Shiller

" In my first few years of elementary school at the Edison School in Detroit, I did poorly. I remember worrying that I might fail the second grade and be held back. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Trump's victory clearly appears to stem from a sense of economic powerlessness, or a fear of losing power, among his supporters. To them, his simple slogan, 'Make America great again,' sounds like 'Make You great again': economic power will be given to the multitudes without taking anything away from the already successful. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Hesitation is often like procrastination. One may have vague doubts and feel a need to mull things over; meanwhile, other issues intrude on thought, and no decision is taken. Ask people why they procrastinate, and you probably won't get a crisp answer. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Critics of 'economic sciences' sometimes refer to the development of a 'pseudoscience' of economics, arguing that it uses the trappings of science, like dense mathematics, but only for show. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Those on the downside of rising economic inequality generally do not want government policies that look like handouts. They typically do not want the government to make the tax system more progressive, to impose punishing taxes on the rich, in order to give the money to them. Redistribution feels demeaning. It feels like being labeled a failure. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Finance is not merely about making money. It's about achieving our deep goals and protecting the fruits of our labor. It's about stewardship and, therefore, about achieving the good society. "

Robert J. Shiller

" There's so much disagreement about investing, and it's because nobody really knows. "

Robert J. Shiller

" If we wait until income inequality is much more severe, we will have a whole class of new superrich who will probably feel entitled to their wealth and will have the means to defend their interest. That's already gone far enough. We shouldn't let it become more extreme. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Since the global financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009, criticism of the economics profession has intensified. The failure of all but a few professional economists to forecast the episode - the aftereffects of which still linger - has led many to question whether the economics profession contributes anything significant to society. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Any time you have change, it costs somebody. Somebody is a loser. "

Robert J. Shiller

" In a bubble, eventually people start saying, 'Wait a minute... these prices are way too high! What is anyone buying anymore? What could they possibly be thinking?' And then there's a correction and a bursting. "

Robert J. Shiller

" We should not be focusing on quick solutions. The really important concern for policymakers everywhere is to prevent disasters - that is, the outlier events that matter the most. "

Robert J. Shiller

" One thing I've noticed about history - you can search on newspapers going back hundreds of years, search for 'economic forecast,' you don't find it. It would be very rare to find it. "

Robert J. Shiller

" The problem is that once we focus on economic policy, much that is not science comes into play. Politics becomes involved, and political posturing is amply rewarded by public attention. "

Robert J. Shiller

" I want to know diverse facts about such things as galaxies or molecules or proteins or insect species. I have an impulse to want to know the little details, which are usually of no significance to non-specialists. I own a dissection microscope, and if there is an insect in the house, I sometimes catch it and look at it under the microscope. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Money management has been a profession involving a lot of fakery - people saying they can beat the market, and they really can't. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Housing traditionally is not viewed as a great investment. It takes maintenance; it depreciates. It goes out of style. All of those are problems. And there's technical progress in housing. So, new ones are better. So, why was it considered an investment? That was a fad. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Speculative markets have always been vulnerable to illusion. But seeing the folly in markets provides no clear advantage in forecasting outcomes, because changes in the force of the illusion are difficult to predict. "

Robert J. Shiller

" We don't know the probabilities of future events. Still, you have to take action, and so you do it on gut feeling. That's the world we live in. "

Robert J. Shiller

" The desperately poor may accept handouts, because they feel they have to. For those who consider themselves at least middle class, however, anything that smacks of a handout is not desired. Instead, they want their economic power back. "

Robert J. Shiller

" If I was counselling an individual, and my purpose was to help that individual, the most important thing would be that you should save more. Because don't expect that your retirement will follow those trajectories that some advisers are telling you. "

Robert J. Shiller

" A lot of people aren't saving enough. And incidentally, people are living longer now, and health care is improving. You might end up retired for 30 years - people are not really preparing for that. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Manufacturers of food try to get the optimal ratio to tap into your impulsivity. They don't care about your health. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Some of the best theorizing comes after collecting data because then you become aware of another reality. "

Robert J. Shiller

" Oppression thrives on distance - on not actually meeting or seeing the oppressed. "

Robert J. Shiller

" People who stay unemployed for a long time start to look like damaged goods, and they don't get such good offers. Also, they're not learning anything. Most learning is on-the-job learning. "

Robert J. Shiller

" I think that a lot of people in all walks of life have the impression, of course, that, 'I specialize in something. I can't - I don't have the time to read other things. I'll just go to pure entertainment when I'm relaxing, and then I'll come back to my pure specialty.' That produces - that attitude produces idiot savants, unfortunately. "

Robert J. Shiller

" The future is always coming up with surprises for us, and the best way to insulate yourself from these surprises is to diversify. "

Robert J. Shiller