Deception In Markets

A revealing expose by one of today's most successful andcontroversial speculators Short-selling, or betting on a drop in the price of a stock, hasbeen described by its many opponents as everything from shady todownright evil. And no one today personifies the practice betterthan short-seller extraordinaire Manuel Asensio. Though he has beenbranded in the press as a market saboteur, Asensio staunchlydefends his practices, claiming that, above all, he is out toexpose rampant fraud being perpetrated by unscrupulous stockpromoters. Is Asensio a "Minion of Satan" as they say in the onlinechat rooms, or is he really a misunderstood guardian angel of freemarket capitalism? In this tell-all account, Asensio offers readersa lively narrative, peppered with unforgettable anecdotes such asthe story of why he shorted Diana, General Nutrition, Solv-Ex,Turbodyne, and many other high-profile stocks. And he armsinvestors with proven techniques for reducing the inherent risks ofshort-selling while maximizing returns. Clearly, Asensio invitesboth praise and criticism, but his methodology works, and SoldShort is a compelling and fascinating read about this oftenmysterious side of the market--and one of the most controversialindividuals behind it. Manuel Asensio (New York, NY) is founder and Chairman of Asensio& Co., Inc. He has over twenty years of corporate finance andresearch experience. He has been featured in Business Week, theWall Street Journal, Barron's, Fortune, Forbes, Worth, the New YorkTimes, New York magazine, and the New Republic, among other leadingnational and international publications.

This is the first scholarly book to fully address the topics of the psychology of deceptive persuasion in the marketplace and consumer self-protection. Deception permeates the American marketplace. Deceptive marketing harms consumers’ health, welfare and financial resources, reduces people’s privacy and self-esteem, and ultimately undermines trust in society. Individual consumers must try to protect themselves from marketers’ misleading communications by acquiring personal marketplace deception-protection skills that go beyond reliance on legal or regulatory protections. Understanding the psychology of deceptive persuasion and consumer self-protection should be a central goal for future consumer behavior research. The authors explore these questions. What makes persuasive communications misleading and deceptive? How do marketing managers decide to prevent or practice deception in planning their campaigns? What skills must consumers acquire to effectively cope with marketers’ deception tactics? What does research tell us about how people detect, neutralize and resist misleading persuasion attempts? What does research suggest about how to teach marketplace deception protection skills to adolescents and adults? Chapters cover theoretical perspectives on deceptive persuasion; different types of deception tactics; how deception-minded marketers think; prior research on how people cope with deceptiveness; the nature of marketplace deception protection skills; how people develop deception protection skills in adolescence and adulthood; prior research on teaching consumers marketplace deception protection skills; and societal issues such as regulatory frontiers, societal trust, and consumer education practices. This unique book is intended for scholars and researchers. It should be essential reading for upper level and graduate courses in consumer behavior, social psychology, communication, and marketing. Marketing practitioners and marketplace regulators will find it stimulating and authoritative, as will social scientists and educators who are concerned with consumer welfare.

This volume focuses on modern economic analyses of deception in markets. The contributors offer a systematic account of how different approaches to modern economics deal with dishonesty and cheating in the marketplace. The particular focus is on economic concepts such as rationality and behaviour in relation to deception. Analyses are presented from the perspective of standard economic frameworks (i.e. game theory, new institutional economics, new classical macroeconomics) while behavioural developments (i.e. behavioural economics and finance) are referred to, challenging the basic economic concepts of rationality and self-interest. Finally, anthropological findings are used to contrast these economic conceptions of deception.

A journey of discovering and correcting a hole in the used car universe. Dale Pollak, innovator and leader of the automotive sales and management industry, will once again, have you rethinking how to manage the used car business. More than a how-to business book, Gross Deception is a story of finding a problem in the reliance on gross profit and the trials to create a solution. This thoughtfully written book not only shows you the trial and error of potential answers, but also how to apply the answer that culminated from years of work. Referred to as ProfitTime, Dale's solution includes both the “New Math of Used Vehicles” and the “Investment Score” system, helping you to know the ROI and net profit potential of every vehicle. With Dale’s ProfitTime solution you will: • Invigorate your cash flow • Increase your sales volume • Introduce new metrics • Initiate value-based management • Identify market shifts Through metric and methodology, Gross Deception will restructure how you view a car’s time on the lot.

Akerlof and Shiller argue that markets harm as well as help us. As long as there is profit to be made, sellers will systematically exploit our psychological weaknesses and our ignorance through manipulation and deception. Based on the intuitive idea that markets both give and take away, they show how phishing affects everyone, in almost every walk of life. We spend our money up to the limit, and then worry about how to pay the next month's bills. The financial system soars, then crashes. In doing so they explain a paradox: why, at a time when we are better off than ever before in history, all too many of us are leading lives of quiet desperation.

How did we get to where we are? John Cassidy shows that the roots of our most recent financial failure lie not with individuals, but with an idea - the idea that markets are inherently rational. He gives us the big picture behind the financial headlines, tracing the rise and fall of free market ideology from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman and Alan Greenspan. Full of wit, sense and, above all, a deeper understanding, How Markets Fail argues for the end of 'utopian' economics, and the beginning of a pragmatic, reality-based way of thinking. A very good history of economic thought Economist How Markets Fail offers a brilliant intellectual framework . . . fine work New York Times An essential, grittily intellectual, yet compelling guide to the financial debacle of 2009 Geordie Greig, Evening Standard A powerful argument . . . Cassidy makes a compelling case that a return to hands-off economics would be a disaster BusinessWeek This book is a well constructed, thoughtful and cogent account of how capitalism evolved to its current form Telegraph Books of the Year recommendation John Cassidy ... describe[s] that mix of insight and madness that brought the world's system to its knees FT, Book of the Year recommendation Anyone who enjoys a good read can safely embark on this tour with Cassidy as their guide . . . Like his colleague Malcolm Gladwell [at the New Yorker], Cassidy is able to lead us with beguiling lucidity through unfamiliar territory New Statesman John Cassidy has covered economics and finance at The New Yorker magazine since 1995, writing on topics ranging from Alan Greenspan to the Iraqi oil industry and English journalism. He is also now a Contributing Editor at Portfolio where he writes the monthly Economics column. Two of his articles have been nominated for National Magazine Awards: an essay on Karl Marx, which appeared in October, 1997, and an account of the death of the British weapons scientist David Kelly, which was published in December, 2003. He has previously written for Sunday Times in as well as the New York Post, where he edited the Business section and then served as the deputy editor. In 2002, Cassidy published his first book, Dot.Con. He lives in New York.

From breaking the law to breaking a promise, how do people lie and how can they be caught? In this revised edition, Paul Ekman, a renowned expert in emotions research and nonverbal communication, adds a new chapter to present his latest research on his groundbreaking inquiry into lying and the methods for uncovering lies. Ekman has figured out the most important behavioral clues to deceit; he has developed a one-hour self-instructional program that trains people to observe and understand "micro expressions"; and he has done research that identifies the facial expressions that show whether someone is likely to become violent—a self-instructional program to train recognition of these dangerous signals has also been developed. Telling Lies describes how lies vary in form and how they can differ from other types of misinformation that can reveal untruths. It discusses how a person’s body language, voice, and facial expressions can give away a lie but still fool professional lie hunters?even judges, police officers, drug enforcement agents, and Secret Service agents.

This is the first scholarly book to fully address the topics of the psychology of deceptive persuasion in the marketplace and consumer self-protection. Deception permeates the American marketplace. Deceptive marketing harms consumers’ health, welfare and financial resources, reduces people’s privacy and self-esteem, and ultimately undermines trust in society. Individual consumers must try to protect themselves from marketers’ misleading communications by acquiring personal marketplace deception-protection skills that go beyond reliance on legal or regulatory protections. Understanding the psychology of deceptive persuasion and consumer self-protection should be a central goal for future consumer behavior research. The authors explore these questions. What makes persuasive communications misleading and deceptive? How do marketing managers decide to prevent or practice deception in planning their campaigns? What skills must consumers acquire to effectively cope with marketers’ deception tactics? What does research tell us about how people detect, neutralize and resist misleading persuasion attempts? What does research suggest about how to teach marketplace deception protection skills to adolescents and adults? Chapters cover theoretical perspectives on deceptive persuasion; different types of deception tactics; how deception-minded marketers think; prior research on how people cope with deceptiveness; the nature of marketplace deception protection skills; how people develop deception protection skills in adolescence and adulthood; prior research on teaching consumers marketplace deception protection skills; and societal issues such as regulatory frontiers, societal trust, and consumer education practices. This unique book is intended for scholars and researchers. It should be essential reading for upper level and graduate courses in consumer behavior, social psychology, communication, and marketing. Marketing practitioners and marketplace regulators will find it stimulating and authoritative, as will social scientists and educators who are concerned with consumer welfare.