Note to Self: On the Tracks of the "Confidence Fairy"...
Note to Self: On the Tracks of the "Confidence Fairy"...
Today's Economic History: Over at Equitable Growth The phrase "confidence fairy" does not appear in Google Ngrams. However, "business confidence" does:
The first modern use of "confidence fairy" I can find in google is Paul Krugman's, on July 1, 2010:
- Paul Krugman (2010): Myths of Austerity
With google reporting the second person to mention it as Joe Stiglitz in October:
- Joseph Stiglitz (2010): To choose austerity is to bet it all on the confidence fairy
Among the approximately 18,400 mentions of the phrase, google (anonymized) reports the most salient pieces of the conversation thereby started are: READ MOAR
- (2015): Debating the Confidence Fairy
- (2014): The Zombie Confidence Fairy
- (2013): The Confidence Fairy, The Expectations Imp, and the Rate-Hike Obsession
- (2012): Expectations and the Confidence Fairy
With a notable contribution earlier that does not use the phrase "confidence fairy" being:
- (1995): What Do Budget Deficits Do?
And with the first occurrence of the idea I can find--"if confidence could return, touch all industries with her magic wand..." is in:
- (1885): The Economics of Industry
