Economics is (now) about emotion and psychology.

My clinical psychologist wife of 40 years has always had a close intellectual influence on me. When I was beginning to talk openly in the economics profession about irrationality in decision-making, I received a lot of criticism. Ginny would support my views and remind me that a whole other profession - psychology - studies people's irrational sides.

Some of the best theorizing comes after collecting data because then you become aware of another reality.

Money management has been a profession involving a lot of fakery - people saying they can beat the market, and they really can't.

I have argued that we need livelihood insurance, which would protect people against the risk of seeing their skills and expertise no longer needed. Such insurance could be offered by the private sector.

As I write in 2012 we certainly do not believe that it is over yet, and the worst may be yet to come. Efforts by governments to solve the underlying problems responsible for the crisis have still not gotten very far, and the 'stress tests' that governments have used to encourage optimism about our financial institutions were of questionable thoroughness.

Consider our difficulties avoiding junk food and overspending. Such addictions were carefully planned-for by professional marketing teams.