How passive investing transformed from a sensible savings strategy into a force that increasingly shapes prices, corporate behavior, and the structure of modern capitalism.

For generations, market prices were shaped by judgment. Investors bought assets they believed were undervalued and sold those they believed were overvalued, creating prices that reflected a collective assessment of value.

Today, a growing share of investment capital enters the market without making that assessment. Retirement savings increasingly flow into index funds, target-date funds, and other passive vehicles that allocate capital according to predetermined rules rather than business fundamentals. What began as a low-cost solution to the shortcomings of active management has become the dominant force in global investing.

In The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Michael Green explores how this transformation is reshaping markets, corporations, and capitalism itself. As trillions of dollars are allocated based on index weight rather than valuation, prices increasingly reflect flows of capital instead of informed judgment. The book traces the evolution of retirement policy, indexing, and benchmark-driven investing to reveal a self-reinforcing system that influences corporate behavior, capital allocation, market concentration, and investor outcomes.

Drawing on financial history, economics, market structure, and behavioral finance, Green examines how the index evolved from a tool designed to measure the market into a force capable of moving it. Along the way, he challenges widely held assumptions about diversification, market efficiency, price discovery, and the connection between stock prices and economic reality.

At its core, the book asks a provocative question: What happens when the mechanism designed to measure the market becomes one of its most powerful participants?