consumption: depression prolonged by avoidance of, 139, 142, 144–46, 149; excesses of 1920s, 139;
feedback loop between job loss and, 144–45; frugality narratives in Great Depression and, 136–37;
labor-saving machinery narrative and, 209; underconsumption theory and, 187–92; visibility index
of categories of, 144. See also conspicuous consumption narratives; spending
contagion of economic models, 24–28
contagion of economic narratives: affecting economic activity, 77; attached to celebrities, xii, 51;
based on citations, 321n22; bimetallism and, 171; Bitcoin and, 21–23; consumer behavior and,
254; enhanced by memories, 252; focus group research and, 283; Frederick Lewis Allen and, x, xi;
as heart of narrative economics, x; home prices and, 215, 226, 227; marketing-driven, 60–63, 297;
medical model of epidemics and, 21, 23; by modern media, 297; mutation of narrative and, 109;
new theory of economic change based on, 3; opportunities for repetition and, 97; perceptions of
other people’s reactions and, 64; profiteer narrative and, 241–42; stock market crash of 1987 and,
233; wage-price spiral narrative and, 260
contagion of ideas or social epidemics, 296, 297
contagion of narratives: caused by unknown processes, 41; celebrity as source of, 102; functioning as
metaphors, 17; historical recognition of, 58–60; by modern media, 297; often resulting from
arbitrary details, 62–63; opportunities for repetition and, 97–100; theory of mind and, 63. See also
contagion of economic narratives
contagion rates: book jackets and, 60–61; credibility of narrative and, 28–29; cultural factors
affecting, 274; declining with time, 296; difficulty of predicting, 41; in disease epidemics, 18–21,
289, 290; effect of slight changes in, 40; engineered by marketers, 60; great variability of, 88–89;
increased by new context, 271; increased by social media, 297; models from epidemiology and,
23–24, 295, 296; new technology leading to changes in, 273–75; novel ideas and concepts
affecting, 97; raised by small detail, 45; of true vs. false stories, 96–97; varying through time, 295
controlled experiments on causality, 72–73; from outside economics, 77–79
Coolidge, Calvin, 44, 125
Coolidge-Mellon bull tips, 125–26
corporate profits: taxes on, 45, 48; viral narratives associated with, 47–48
corporate raiders, as viral term in 1980s, 47–48
cortisol, 54–55
cosmopolitan culture, and Bitcoin, 4, 11, 87
cost-push inflation, 258–59, 259f, 260
Coué, Emile, 121
CPI (Consumer Price Index), 245
crash narrative, 228, 229–33. See also stock market crash narrative
creative people: of news media, 75; recurrent narratives due to, 109–10; viral narratives due to, 60
credibility of narratives in a constellation, 28–29
Crimean War, effect of weather forecasting on, 123
Crime of 1873, 157–58, 171
criminology, narrative, 15
crocodile logo, 62
Cronon, William, 79
“Cross of Gold” speech, 167–68
cryptocurrencies: concept of, 3, 4; constellation of related narratives about, 92; gold standard and,
157; initial coin offerings (ICOs) and, 76; lack of definite knowledge about, 96; sold by vending
machines, 10. See also Bitcoin narrative
“Cult of the Offensive,” 95
cultural change: constellations of narratives behind, 86; narratives as vectors of, xiii; two-step flow
hypothesis of, 297
cultural entrepreneur, 71–72