Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-293) and index.

In this eye-opening exploration, author and psychologist Michael Shermer uncovers the evolutionary roots of our economic behavior. Drawing on the new field of neuroeconomics, Shermer investigates what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and establishing trust in business. He scrutinizes experiments in behavioral economics to understand why people hang on to losing stocks, why negotiations disintegrate into tit-for-tat disputes, and why money does not make us happy. He brings together astonishing findings from psychology, biology, and other sciences to describe how our tribal ancestry makes us suckers for brands, why researchers believe cooperation unleashes biochemicals similar to those released during sex, why free trade promises to build alliances between nations, and how even capuchin monkeys get indignant if they don't get a fair reward for their work.--From publisher description.

Prologue : Economics for everyone -- 1. The great leap forward -- 2. Our folk economics -- 3. Bottom-up capitalism -- 4. Of pandas, products, and people -- 5. Minding our money -- 6. The extinction of homo economicus -- 7. The value of virtue -- 8. Why money can't buy you happiness -- 9. Trust with credit verification -- 10. The science of good rules -- 11. Don't be evil -- 12. Free to choose -- Epilogue : To open the world -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.