Big Brothers movement, 274
bimetallism: appearance in news articles by year, 22, 22f; arguments in opposition to, 169; Bitcoin
and, 108, 161–62, 171; epidemic theory applied to, 22–23; geographic and social-class dimensions
of, 160, 161, 162–63; international contagion of, 160–61; popular in late nineteenth century, 158,
159–61; prior to being ended in 1873, 157; reasons for popular narratives about, 170–71;
secondary epidemic in 1930s, 23. See also gold standard
Bitcoin narrative, xviii, 3–11; anarchism and, 5–7; bimetallism and, 108, 161–62, 171; cause of
increased value and, 72; contagion of, 21–23; cosmopolitan culture and, 4, 11, 87; cryptocurrencies
competing with, 92; epidemic theory applied to, 21–23; fading by 2013, 76; fascination with
narratives about money and, 173; fear of inequality and, 8–9; the future and, 9–10, 87; geographic
pattern of spread, 299; history of, 4; as human-interest story, 7–8; key features of, 87; mathematical
concepts underlying, 5, 302n3; membership in world economy and, 11; as mystery story, 7, 8, 162;
in news articles by year, 22, 22f; in news articles compared to relevant algorithms, 9–10; sale of
Bitcoin in convenience stores and, 10; similarity to gold standard and bimetallism narratives, 108–
9; as successful economic narrative, 3–4; technocracy movement and, 193; uncertain truth of, 96;
volatility of value in, 5, 10. See also Nakamoto, Satoshi
Bix, Amy Sue, 186–87
Blade Runner (film), 203
Blanc, Louis, 102
Blinder, Alan, 281
blockchains, 6
blue jeans, 147–48, 149
blue sky laws, 220, 221
Booker, Christopher, 16
book jackets, 60–61
Boulding, Kenneth E., xv–xvi
Box, George E. P., 295
Boycott, Charles C., 239–40
The Boycott in American Trade Unions (Wolman), 241
boycott narrative, 239–43; in 1973–75 recession, 256–57; contributing to 1920–21 depression, 249;
going viral, 241; during Great Depression, 254; origins of, 239–40; profiteer stories in World War I
and, 241–42, 246; recurring periodically, 241; during world financial crisis of 2007–9, 257; after
World War II, 255. See also anger at businesspeople
brain: activated by analogy and metaphor, 17; basic story structures and, 15–16; being replaced by
artificial intelligence, 199, 211; in dreaming, 32; fear-related structures in, 56–58; flashbulb
memory and, 80–81; long-term memory formation and, 47; narrative processing disrupted by
injury to, 65–66; narrative tendency in music and, 35; neurolinguistics of narrative and, 16–17; risk
assessment by, 67; sharing content in form of stories and, 54; source monitoring by, 84, 307n21.
See also neurolinguistics and narrative; neuroscience and narrative
breadline, 134
Brooks, Peter, 16
Brown, Donald E., 33
Brown, Roger, 307n13
Bruner, Jerome, 65
Bryan, William Jennings, 108, 164, 167–68, 170, 171, 172, 313n29
Buffett, Warren, 4
Burns, Arthur F., 125, 309n10
Bush, George W., 83, 154–55
business confidence narrative, 114–15, 116f, 118–19; conventional economists’ view and, xvi–xvii;
gold standard and, 167, 168–69; stimulated by Bitcoin narrative, 4

business cycle, 124–25, 271. See also economic fluctuations
butterfly effect, 299–300
buy-and-hold strategy, xiii
“Buy Now Campaign” during Great Depression, 255
Callahan, Charlene, 281
Canada, National Dream, 151; Bank of Canada, 156
Čapek, Karel, 181–82, 203
Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty), 150, 210–11
capitalism: Bitcoin narrative and, 87; triumphant narrative of, 29
Capper, Arthur, 249
The Captive Mind (Milosz), 57
Carroll, Lewis, 188
Case, Karl, 216, 226, 285
Case-Shiller home price index, 216, 222
Cass, David, 74
Cassel, Gustav, 188
causality between narratives and events, 71–74; controlled experiments and, 72–73, 77–79; vs.
correlation, 286; direction of, 71, 72–74; economists’ presumption about, 73, 76–77; flashbulb
memory and, 80; for recessions and depressions in US, 112. See also self-fulfilling prophecies in
economics
Cawelti, John G., 16
celebrities: adding human interest to narratives, xii, 100–102, 153; Alan Greenspan as, 227;
American Dream narrative and, 153; in Bitcoin-related stories, 7–8, 92; of Bloomsbury group, 26;
changed in mutated narrative, 108–9; economic events affected by colorful phrases of, 75–76;
forgotten or discredited, 110; Franklin Roosevelt as, 128; J. P. Morgan as, 115, 117–18; Keynes as,
25–26; not usually the inventors of narratives, 72; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., as, 127; preference
for one’s country or ethnic group, 102; quotes associated with, 102; Reagan’s free-market
revolution and, xii; Reagan’s supply-side rhetoric and, 51; shoeshine boy narrative and, 236–37;
substituted as originator of a quote, 102; substituted for different target audience, 101; substituted
to increase contagion, xii; Trump as, xii; Virginia Woolf as, 26; William Jennings Bryan as, 168
Centennial Exhibition of 1876, 177
central bank: end of wage-price spiral narrative and, 261; inflation targeting by, 261, 262; words and
stories that accompany actions of, xvi. See also Federal Reserve
Cents and Sensibility (Morson and Schapiro), 16
chaos theory, 299–300
Chaplin, Charlie, 195
charitable giving in US, declining from 2001 to 2014, 272
Chase, John C., 181
Chase, Stuart, 185
chemical reactions, rate equations for, 290, 321n3
Cheney, Dick, 44
Chudley, Jody, 236
Chwe, Michael Suk-Young, 303n9
Cicero, 34, 46
Civil War, US: anger at those profiting during, 265–66; depression prior to, 111; emotional power of
narratives and, 14; narrative describing first shots of, 81; panic of 1857 in run-up to, 115; Uncle
Tom narrative and, 33
Cobden, Richard, 110
co-epidemics: of diseases, 294–95; of diseases with narratives, 23; of narratives, 28, 110, 225, 322n9