Sign-In
Cart
Fortune Tellers: The Story of America S First Economic Forecasters
Paperback
Biographies GeneralBusiness GeneralEconomics
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9780691169194
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: Apr 12 2016
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.60 Depth: 8.80
Language: English
A gripping history of the pioneers who sought to use science to predict financial markets
The period leading up to the Great Depression witnessed the rise of the economic forecasters, pioneers who sought to use the tools of science to predict the future, with the aim of profiting from their forecasts. This book chronicles the lives and careers of the men who defined this first wave of economic fortune tellers, men such as Roger Babson, Irving Fisher, John Moody, C. J. Bullock, and Warren Persons. They competed to sell their distinctive methods of prediction to investors and businesses, and thrived in the boom years that followed World War I. Yet, almost to a man, they failed to predict the devastating crash of 1929. Walter Friedman paints vivid portraits of entrepreneurs who shared a belief that the rational world of numbers and reason could tame--or at least foresee--the irrational gyrations of the market. Despite their failures, this first generation of economic forecasters helped to make the prediction of economic trends a central economic activity, and shed light on the mechanics of financial markets by providing a range of statistics and information about individual firms. They also raised questions that are still relevant today. What is science and what is merely guesswork in forecasting? What motivates people to buy forecasts? Does the act of forecasting set in motion unforeseen events that can counteract the forecast made? Masterful and compelling, Fortune Tellers highlights the risk and uncertainty that are inherent to capitalism itself.Also in
Economics
Family, Fields, and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China's Social and Economic History, 1550-1949
Eastman, Lloyd E.
Paperback
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shattered a Nation
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Hardcover
1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World
Ahamed, Liaquat
Hardcover
Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
Mayyasi, Alex
Hosts of Npr's Planet Money
Hardcover
Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed Bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East
Cole, Matthew
Hardcover
What Happened to Liberal Democracy?: Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity
Acemoglu, Daron
Hardcover
Capitalism for All: Inclusive Economics and the Future-Proofing of America
Bryant, John Hope
Hardcover
How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't)
Moore Phd, Joseph S.
Hardcover
Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal about How Markets Work
Roth, Alvin E.
Hardcover
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paperback
Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World's Most Powerful Industry
Tan, Js
Redwine, Clarissa
Hardcover
Market Wizards: The Next Generation: The World's Top Young Traders Reveal How They Beat the Market
Schwager, Jack D.
Coyle, George F.
Hardcover
Soccernomics (2026 World Cup Edition): Why European Men and American Women Usually Win--And American Men Don't (Yet)
Kuper, Simon
Szymanski, Stefan
Paperback
Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York
Gottlieb, Dylan
Hardcover
A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come
Canal, Marc
Bradley, Chris
Leung, Nick
Paperback
The Invisible Hand of Maria Edgeworth: How a Nineteenth-Century Novelist Taught the World Economics
Smialek, Jeanna
Hardcover
How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy
Keynes, Soumaya
Bown, Chad P.
Hardcover
The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History
Williamson, Vanessa S.
Hardcover
House of Fidelity: The Rise of the Johnson Dynasty and the Company That Changed American Investing
Baer, Justin
Hardcover
The Middle-Class New Deal: Restoring Upward Mobility and the American Dream
Dickerson, A. Mechele
Paperback
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
Acemoglu, Daron
Robinson, James A.
Paperback
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--And How It Shatteredâ a Nation (Large Print Edition)
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paperback
Freakonomics Twentieth Anniversary Edition: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Dubner, Stephen J.
Levitt, Steven D.
Paperback
The Best Decisions You'll Ever Make: An Economist's Guide to Saving Time, Making Money, and Living Well
Altman, Daniel
Hardcover
Who Gets What -- And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design
Roth, Alvin E.
Paperback
A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
Nations, Scott
Paperback
It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We're to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems
Loewenstein, George
Chater, Nick
Hardcover
5 Steps to a 5: AP Microeconomics 2027: Practice AP Tests + AP Content Review + Digital Exams
Dodge, Eric R.
Paperback
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail
Dalio, Ray
Hardcover
How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness
Roberts, Russ
Paperback
Broken Money: Why Our Financial System is Failing Us and How We Can Make it Better
Alden, Lyn
Paperback
How Africa Works: Success and Failure on the World's Last Developmental Frontier
Studwell, Joe
Hardcover
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Ariely, Dan
Paperback
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty
Duflo, Esther
Banerjee, Abhijit V.
Paperback
Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity
Marohn, Charles L., Jr.
Hardcover
Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead
Rogoff, Kenneth
Paperback
Abundance / Abundancia (Spanish Edition): Cómo Construimos Un Mundo Mejor
Thompson, Derek
Klein, Ezra
Paperback
Baby Steps Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth--And How You Can Too
Ramsey, Dave
Hardcover
The Banker Who Made America: Thomas Willing and the Rise of the American Financial Aristocracy, 1731-1821
Vague, Richard
Hardcover
Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead
Rogoff, Kenneth
Hardcover
Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence
Navarro, Joe
Poynter, Toni Sciarra
Paperback
The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism
Mattei, Clara E.
Paperback
The Age of Confiscation: Making and Taking Property in the Creation of the Modern World
Mulder, Nicholas
Hardcover
The Great Global Transformation: The United States, China, and the Remaking of the World Economic Order
Milanovic, Branko
Hardcover
Financial Literacy for All: Disrupting Struggle, Advancing Financial Freedom, and Building a New American Middle Class
Bryant, John Hope
Paperback
The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy
Leonard, Christopher
Paperback
The Winner's Curse: Behavioral Economics Anomalies, Then and Now
Thaler, Richard H.
Imas, Alex
Hardcover
Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to the Modern Era
Weldon, Duncan
Hardcover
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
Dubner, Stephen J.
Levitt, Steven D.
Paperback
Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
Acemoglu, Daron
Johnson, Simon
Paperback
Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom /]Cby Grace Blakeley
Blakeley, Grace
Paperback
Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy
Slobodian, Quinn
Paperback
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
Hazlitt, Henry
Paperback
The Madness of Markets: Why Smart Investors Make Crazy Decisions--And How to Exploit Them
Edmans, Alex
Hardcover
Talking to My Daughter about the Economy: Or, How Capitalism Works--And How It Fails
Varoufakis, Yanis
Paperback
Shapers and Founders: The Untold Stories of Asia's Extraordinary Owner-Ceos
SenGupta, Joydeep
Kumra, Gautam
Lim, Cheryl
Hardcover
A Capitalist Manifesto: Understanding The Market Economy And Defending Liberty
Wolfram, Gary
Paperback
AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics Premium, Eighth Edition: Prep Book with 4 Practice Tests + Comprehensive Review + Online Practice (2026)
Redelsheimer, James, M. a.
Musgrave, Frank, PH. D.
Kacapyr, Elia, PH. D.
Paperback
Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873-1930
Kobrin, Rebecca
Hardcover
The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism
Gramm, Phil
Boudreaux, Donald J.
Hardcover
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers
Heilbroner, Robert L.
Paperback
The World Order - Our Secret Rulers: A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism
Mullins, Eustace
Paperback
The World's Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (and What Would Make It Right)
Lynch, David J.
Hardcover
The Invention of Infinite Growth: How Economists Came to Believe a Dangerous Delusion
Jones, Christopher F.
Hardcover
Small Startup Cities: How to Build a Thriving Startup Ecosystem in a Small City
Halaby, Dominique
Paperback
Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet
Collins, Chuck
Hardcover
9 Hábitos Japoneses Que Cambiarán Tu Vida / 9 Japanese Habits That Will Change Your Life
Rodríguez, Andrea
Paperback
Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises
McCauley, Robert N.
Aliber, Robert Z.
Kindleberger, Charles P.
Paperback
This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly
Reinhart, Carmen M.
Rogoff, Kenneth S.
Paperback
Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives
Mullainathan, Sendhil
Shafir, Eldar
Paperback