There are several possible interpretations of Steele’s comment: A daring and extravagant fashion might indicate that stock market profits were being spent on gaudy display, a sign of the conspicuous consumption which accompanies every speculative episode. On the other hand, one might see in the rising headdress of the moneyed man’s mistress (or later of the rising hemline of the 1920s flapper) an indication of the moral laxity of speculative periods, when the spirit of self-interest is dominant and more sober virtues are despised. It appears more likely, however, that Steele was suggesting that market values – evanescent, ephemeral, and extravagant – were as much a reflection of passing fashion as female modes of attire. A fashionable style, like a speculative movement, is subject to a popular consensus and follows a trend until it reaches a point of extravagance from which it can only retreat.

According to the text, the correlation between headdresses and share prices, pointed out by Steele,

Item 4 can be explained by the fact that fashion and speculative movements alike are subject to popular consensus.

Considere o jogo na forma extensiva apresentado acima. Avalie a afirmativa abaixo, com base em seus conhecimentos de Teoria dos Jogos:

Item 2 O perfil de estratégias (Entra; Grande Escala, quando a empresa estabelecida não luta; Pequena Escala, quando a empresa estabelecida luta; Não luta) corresponde a um equilíbrio perfeito em subjogos.

TEXT 2

Headdresses and Hemlines

(Excerpts from Edward Chancellor’s Devil Take the Hindmost, A History of Financial Speculation (Plume, 2000), pp. 44-48. The original text has been edited to conform the objectives of the Exam.

Seventeen-century investors were no less sophisticated than their counterparts in the modern world. The valuation of annuities and lottery tickets, both of which paid an income for a limited number of years but did not return the principal, involved the process of discounting future cash flows. What is nowadays called the “time value of money” is clearly comprehended in John Law’s remark that “anticipation is always at a discount... $ 100 to be paid now is of more value than $ 1000 to be paid by $ 10 a year for 100 years”.