Shiller attributes market levels to crowds’ emotional and inattentive reasoning, not expert consensus

Evidence

The high stock market levels did not, as so many imagine, represent the consensus judgment of experts who have carefully weighted the long-term evidence. The markets have been high because of the combined effect of indifferent thinking by millions of people, very few of whom have felt the need to perform careful research[,] … who are motivated substantially by their own emotions, random attentions, and perceptions of conventional wisdom. Their all too human behaviour has been heavily influenced by news media that are interested in attracting viewers or readers. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 65

Categorization

• XREF: This benchmark account of the irrational crowd is precisely the position Komporozos-Athanasiou is setting up to overturn with ‘homo speculans’—the foil for his whole argument. — connects to: Market highs arise from millions’ indifferent thinking, not expert consensus — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 99; Market pseudo-rationality is imaginary delirium, not mere irrationality — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 156; Market mechanisms sometimes amplify rather than correct human cognitive limitations — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1207 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Market highs arise from millions’ indifferent thinking, not expert consensus — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 99; Market pseudo-rationality is imaginary delirium, not mere irrationality — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 156; Market mechanisms sometimes amplify rather than correct human cognitive limitations — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1207 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Market highs arise from millions’ indifferent thinking, not expert consensus #expands (0.95) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 99