Abstract
The connection between the stuff “out there” (in the world) and its form “in here” (inthe mind) is a age-old conundrum. For the most part, though, finance has not concerned itselfwith the matter, at least not explicitly and not in depth, and serious efforts to address it withinthe discipline are long overdue. What are the sources of our mental images of finance—personal experience, formal education, and popular culture among others—and what are theconsequences—more efficient and equitable functioning of a financial system in support ofthe real economy or rampant rent seeking by a financial system exacerbating inequality inincome and wealth distribution?The neurophysiology of memory, which concerns the networks of associations createdby the brain to store its inputs from out there and the triggers by which those networks areaccessed and their contents deployed, offers a suitable approach to this issue. This papersummarizes what we know about the mental representations of complex concepts such as“finance” and why they are of such importance. The associations of a word in here, whatevertheir origins, however real or unreal, and however shared or idiosyncratic, influence behavior,and in doing so change the world out there—“finance” affecting and effecting finance. Andusing a case study, the paper explores the formation of differing images of “finance” and theirinteractions.