Robert Shiller Blasts Fellow Nobelists' Ideas To Their Face During His Acceptance Presentation

Advertisement

Robert Shiller won the Nobel Prize in Economics for his theories about how we should think about asset prices.

Advertisement

The other two 2013 laureates, Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, ostensibly won for their work in the same field. These two believe markets are efficient - that is, rational investors take in all known information and price a given asset accordingly.

Shiller, on the other hand, believes efficient markets are a myth, and that market moves very frequently do not correspond with investors' best interests.

And in his lecture this weekend accepting the award, Shiller basically shredded Fama's and Hansen's ideas - to their faces, no less, as he was the third and final presenter.

"I guess my attitude is, 'Why are we so interested in the efficient markets model?' We haven't seen any compelling evidence for it," he said, adding "I just don't see any inspiration for any of these models."

Advertisement

He continued, "Gene doesn't agree with this at all...I'm going to present evidence, though," Shiller said to laughter and applause.

We've annotated his entire presentation here