Signals and Secrets: Ten Stories Inspired by the Nobel Prize in Economics Laureates, 1990 to 1999

What if the defining economic ideas of the 1990s were not confined to lecture theatres and policy papers, but became lived dilemmas with consequences you can feel. Signals and Secrets is a collection of ten standalone short stories that transforms Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences winning insights from 1990 to 1999 into tense, contemporary fiction: hidden risk in "diversified" markets, bargains derailed by enforcement costs, incentives that reshape behaviour, institutions that can be built or captured, strategy under uncertainty, inflation driven by belief, auctions designed to defeat intimidation, protection that fails when it cannot be hedged, well-being that cannot be read from income alone, and a currency peg that collides with capital flows. Each story opens with a brief, plain language paragraph explaining the Nobel recognised idea that powers the plot, making the book accessible to students, teachers, and curious readers alike. These stories are inspired by Nobel recognised research, but they are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Nobel Prize or its institutions. They are an invitation to notice the incentives behind decisions, the frictions inside institutions, and what happens when a neat model meets a messy world.