The New York Times: Talking War and Market Volatility With a Giant of Economics.

In a recent “Strategies” column by New York Times writer Jeff Sommer, Eugene F. Fama shared his thoughts on the behavior of markets—and people—during times of volatility.

Fama, a Nobel laureate who is widely recognized as the “father of modern finance,” spoke about the information markets can provide during times of uncertainty and what inevitably remains unknown.

“Basically, we’re in a period where we have had an injection of uncertainty into the world, so speculative prices are going to go up and down in response. People are continuously trying to evaluate information. But it’s impossible for them, given the amount of uncertainty that’s out there, to come up with good answers,” Fama told Sommer. “But that doesn’t mean the market is inefficient. Markets can be rational without politics being rational or people always being rational. The problem with pricing is a question of how much is knowable right now.”

Subscribers to the New York Times can read more of his exchange with Sommer here.