Hill, Napoleon, 121–22
Himanen, Pekka, 7
historical databases, 279; of letters and diaries, 285
historical scholarship: compared with historical novel, 79; economics learning from, 78; use of
narrative by, 14, 37
Hitler, Adolf, 122, 142, 195
HIV (human immune deficiency virus), 24; coinfective with tuberculosis, 294–95
Hoar, George Frisbie, 178
Hoffa, Jimmy, 260
Hofstadter, Douglas R., 47
Hofstadter, Richard, 36
Hollande, François, 151
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr., 127
Holtby, Winifred, 140
homeownership: advantages over renting, 223, 317n18; advertising promotions for, 219–20;
American Dream narrative and, 154–55; condominium conversion boom and, 223–24; seen as
investment by many buyers, 226–27
home price indexes, 97, 215–16, 222
home price narratives, 215–17; declining by 2012, 227; fueling a speculative boom, 217–18, 222,
223–24
home prices: available on the Internet, 218; construction costs and, 215, 317n6; falling dramatically
with financial crisis of 2007–9, 223; only going up, xii; price of land and, 215; ProQuest references
to, 213–14, 216; rising again from 2012 to 2018, 223, 225; social comparison and, 218, 220;
supply of housing and, 222; supply of land and, 221–22; surge leading up to financial crisis of
2007–9, 222–23. See also housing booms
Homer, 174, 314n1
honesty: economic narratives about, 101; phishing equilibrium and, 61
Hoover, Herbert, 90, 91, 138, 188–89, 191, 253
Hooverville, 131
hormonal response to narratives, 54–55
House Lust (McGinn), 217–18
housing booms: from 2012 to 2018 and continuing, 223; conspicuous consumption and, 225;
feedback loop of prices in, 216–17; fueled by home price narratives, 217–18, 222, 223–24; as
investment in land rather than structure, 221, 223; peak in 2005 predicted by few economists, xiv;
record-setting boom of 1997–2006, 217; world financial crisis of 2007–9 and, 154, 155, 217, 222–
23, 226, 227. See also home prices; real estate boom in 2000s
“housing bubble”: Internet searches for, 226, 226f; looking beyond headlines and statistics, 238;
stories found by ProQuest in 2005, 227. See also housing booms
housing market: narratives about, before 2007–9 financial crisis, 227; speculative bubbles in, 216–
17; surveys of US homebuyers in, 285–86; today’s status of, 226–27
Howard, Milford, Wriarson, 166
Hull, Clark, 195
human interest of economic narratives: added by celebrities, xii, 100–102, 153; impact on events and,
77; many dimensions of, 79–80
human interest of stories, 32
human tragedy narratives in Great Depression, 137, 141
Hume, David, 58, 71
hyperinflation in Germany after World War I, 247, 266
hypnosis narrative, 122

ICOs (initial coin offerings), 76
identity economics, xxi
“I Have a Dream” speech (King), 153–54
Iliad (Homer), 174, 314n1
immunity to disease, 20, 289
Index of Consumer Sentiment, 119
Industrial Revolution: labor-saving machinery narrative and, 9; narratives about confidence and, 114;
real estate narratives and, 212; as term introduced in nineteenth century, 175
inequality: artificial intelligence narrative and, 273; Bitcoin and fear of, 8–9; burgeoning public
attention to, 210–11; decline in modesty narrative and, 150; George’s Progress and Poverty on,
111, 178–79; labor-saving machinery and, 178–79, 180; opposition to gold standard and, 166;
origins of the boycott and, 240
infectives in an epidemic, 23, 289; declining contagion rate and, 296
inflation: anger about, 239, 245, 247, 263–64, 265–66; central bank role in control of, 261, 262; cost-
push inflation, 258–59, 259f, 260; demand-pull inflation, 258; economic growth and, 319n10;
economists’ views of, in 1997 study, 263, 264; highest in US from 1973 to 1981, 262;
hyperinflation in Germany after World War I, 247, 266; as negative terminology, 172–73; public
views of, in 1997 study, 263–64; runaway US inflation of 1970s, 256; sources of evil blamed for,
263, 266; stock market response to decline in, 29; unusually tame now, 266; wage-price spiral
narrative and, 258–62; during wars, 265–66; after World War I, 243–49, 250; after World War II,
255–56
Inflation: A World-Wide Disaster (Friedman), 262
inflation targeting, 261, 262
influencer marketing, 274–75
influenza: new forms and new epidemics of, 271; pandemic of 1918, 108, 198, 252; SEIR model of
epidemics of, 294
information cascades, 300
information technology: changing contagion rates and recovery rates, 273–75; communication of
stories through, xviii; history of inventions in, 273; for research in narrative economics, 279. See
also Internet; search engines
initial coin offerings (ICOs), 76
initial public offerings (IPOs), flipping of, 224
interest rates: central bank changes of, xvi; expectations of future rates, 55–56; of limited value in
understanding economic events, 74–75; no proven record of forecasting of, 55; wage-price spiral
narrative and, 260
international economic narratives, 110
International Monetary Fund, xiv
International Social Survey Program, 282
Internet: changes in contagion caused by, 273, 297; cooperation using new technology and, 7; fear of
automation at beginning of, 205; home price narrative and, 218; narrative of computer power
launched by, 206; phrase “going viral” in relation to, x; SIRS model for memes on, 297–98; views
or likes on, x. See also dot-com boom; search engines; social media
Internet trolls, 67
interviews as research tools, 281–82
inventions, obvious but not adopted, 38–39
investment: fear-related brain circuitry and, 57–58; Keynes on decisions involved in, xvi, 63–64;
labor-saving machinery narrative and, 209; profitable for some during World War I, 94. See also
stock market
investment managers, stories told by, 15
irrational exuberance: exogenous effect on economy, 76; Greenspan on 1996 stock market and, 227