{"product_id":"getting-it-wrong-william-a-barnett-9780262516884","title":"Getting it Wrong: How Faulty Monetary Statistics Undermine the Fed, the Financial System, and the Economy","description":"\u003cb\u003eA leading economist contends that the recent financial crisis was caused not by the failure of mainstream economics but by corrupted monetary data constructed without reference to economics.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlame for the recent financial crisis and subsequent recession has commonly been assigned to everyone from Wall Street firms to individual homeowners. It has been widely argued that the crisis and recession were caused by \"greed\" and the failure of mainstream economics. In \u003ci\u003eGetting It Wrong\u003c\/i\u003e, leading economist William Barnett argues instead that there was too little use of the relevant economics, especially from the literature on economic measurement. Barnett contends that as financial instruments became more complex, the simple-sum monetary aggregation formulas used by central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, became obsolete. Instead, a major increase in public availability of best-practice data was needed. Households, firms, and governments, lacking the requisite information, incorrectly assessed systemic risk and significantly increased their leverage and risk-taking activities. Better financial data, Barnett argues, could have signaled the misperceptions and prevented the erroneous systemic-risk assessments.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen extensive, best-practice information is not available from the central bank, increased regulation can constrain the adverse consequences of ill-informed decisions. Instead, there was deregulation. The result, Barnett argues, was a worst-case toxic mix: increasing complexity of financial instruments, inadequate and poor-quality data, and declining regulation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing his accessible narrative of the deep causes of the crisis and the long history of private and public errors, Barnett provides technical appendixes, containing the mathematical analysis supporting his arguments.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William A. Barnett\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262516888\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262516884\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/16\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 360\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.08lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.94h x 6.11w x 0.77d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAward:\u003c\/b\u003e PROSE - Winner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2012","brand":"William A. Barnett","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44050970149119,"sku":"9780262516884","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_458f98a6-5d0a-48d2-995b-605198e08989.jpg?v=1685010316","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/getting-it-wrong-william-a-barnett-9780262516884","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}