The Role of Narratives in Economics

In his recent 2017 American Economic Association (AEA) Presidential address, Nobel laureate Robert Shiller pointed out an interesting disconnect between economists and the real world. Of the thousands of papers in economics presented at the AEA’s conference in Chicago, not one mentioned the words “meme” or “viral.” In our digital society, memes compete in a crowded space and some go viral. Should researchers study these viral memes? How does information spread? ….[READ]