Going Broke by Stuart A Vyse
The fact that more and more people are in financial turmoil in one of the most affluent societies in the world is of both great interest and major concern. Bankruptcy rates in the United States have steadily increased over the past 30 years, reaching all-time highs. Home foreclosures are at record levels, and the personal savings rate is at its lowest point since the Great Depression. This timely and important volume is a fascinating combination of psychological inquiry and sociological commentary. Its essential premise is that the financial failures of so many Americans today are the inevitable byproduct of singularly unique, contemporary social and economic policies whose underlying purpose is to undermine and indeed to denigrate self-control. Bringing together research from the psychological science of self-control and consumer behavior, as well as from behavioral economics, the book surveys how broad social and economic changes over the last 30 years have affected our relationship with money, from the rise of consumer credit to the increase in gambling venues to the expansion of new shopping and spending opportunities provided by the Internet. It concludes both with personal advice for the individual who wants to achieve greater financial stability and with pointed policy recommendations for economic and social change that will help promote the financial health of all Americans. Engagingly written, with startling insights about the dynamics of modern consumerism and with poignant human-interest stories of people the author encountered in bankruptcy court, Going Broke challenges dominant American economic philosophy and, as a result, is likely to stir controversy and serious debate in the public forum.
"In this lucidly-written and very timely book, Vyse has brought recent empirical research by psychologists and economists to bear on the question of why so many people are currently getting themselves into unmanageable debtVyse makes astute suggestions as to what we can do individually and collectively to reverse this frightening situation. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is currently in such straits or who is in danger of getting into them -- and, as Vyse makes clear, that could be any of us." -Howard Rachlin, PhD, Psychology Department, SUNY Stony Brook "Stuart Vyse's brilliant blending of cognitive science and practical economics explains how smart, well-intentioned people so often financially self-destruct. With a mix of compelling research and engaging anecdote, he reveals how we think about money, how modern shopping and payment systems influence consumer behavior, how yesterday's wants become today's needs, and how we can use this knowledge to spend less, save more, and live more happily." -David G. Myers, PhD, Hope College, and author of Intuition: Its Powers and Perils "The responsibility for going broke must ultimately lie with the individual, but that does not mean that there are not psychological, social, and economic reasons why so many people cannot save what they earn. With deep compassion and penetrating insight Stuart Vyse turns the lens of science to uncover those reasons, showing how and why bankruptcy could happen to any of us and that the problem is a national one about which we must all be concerned. Vyse's program on how to avoid debt should be printed on the back of every credit card application form." -Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of Why People Believe Weird Things and The Mind of the Market
Stuart Vyse is Professor of Psychology at Connecticut College, in New London. He is the author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, which won the prestigious William James Book Award in 1999.
| SKU | Nicht verfügbar |
| ISBN 13 | 9780195306996 |
| ISBN 10 | 0195306996 |
| Titel | Going Broke |
| Autor | Stuart A Vyse |
| Buchzustand | Nicht verfügbar |
| Bindungsart | Hardback |
| Verlag | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2008-02-21 |
| Seitenanzahl | 368 |
| Hinweis auf dem Einband | Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden. |
| Hinweis | Nicht verfügbar |