The Midwest Momentum Strategy: Why Stocks Go Up Every Time Ohio Feels Slightly Optimistic (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798261975892)

In this sharp, satirical economic thriller, behavioral economist Dr. Casey Flint stumbles onto a bizarre data anomaly: every time Ohioans report a slight increase in optimism, the stock market rallies. What begins as an academic curiosity explodes into a global financial phenomenon, as hedge funds, media outlets, and data firms scramble to exploit the so-called "Midwest Momentum Strategy." Ohio becomes the emotional epicenter of global finance, its moods measured, manipulated, and monetized, while Flint is thrust unwillingly into the spotlight as the accidental architect of a new economic belief system.

As Wall Street builds an entire asset class around emotional metrics, everything from weather forecasts to high school football scores becomes part of the financial calculus. But the system begins to strain under its own absurdity. Sentiment sensors appear on street corners, hope becomes currency, and Ohioans revolt against their forced role as economic oracles. Flint, with the help of whistleblowers, activists, and former insiders, exposes the dark machinery behind the mood economy, revealing how deeply markets had come to rely not on fundamentals-but on manufactured belief.

In the end, the story becomes not just about finance, but about humanity. As the emotional economy collapses under the weight of its own artifice, Ohio quietly reclaims its voice. No longer a data point or a symbol, it returns to being what it always was: a place where real people live real lives. The Midwest Momentum Strategy is a clever, cutting, and ultimately hopeful reflection on capitalism, perception, and the deep cost of turning human feelings into financial instruments.