Why You're Not in the Mood

摘要

Winter has been a season of surprises, and spring is ripe for more. The richest, most electable candidate in the Republican primary race is losing ground to a man who doesn't believe in evolution. Millions of homeowners remain underwater, yet rents are rising. The unemployment rate is falling, but the temperature of protectionist rhetoric is heating up. Even culture is bucking the conventional wisdom: highbrow nostalgia show Downton Abbey is a hit, while high-tech sci-fi flick John Carter bombs. This all seems confusing and contradictory, but it makes perfect sense to people in the burgeoning field of emotional economics. Investment expert Peter Atwater, head of consulting firm Financial Insyghts, which studies the effects of consumer mood on markets, says that since the financial crisis in 2008, our mood has been closed in, negative, fearful and isolationist.