Nonlinearity, Complexity and Randomness in Economics: Towards Algorithmic Foundations for Economics

The "great crash of 2008" and its associated banking crisis have revealed the limitations of mainstream economics. While exposing the increasing irrelevance of the field, they have forced a number of economists to re–examine their discipline. The financial meltdown also showed how traditional linear or linearised models with well–behaved additive stochastic disturbances, based on orthodox "microeconomic foundations", are not adequate to deal with the complexities of today′s world. Nonlinearity, Complexity and Randomness in Economics presents a variety of cutting edge papers by leading economists, scientists, and philosophers. Topics explored include nonlinear macroeconomic modelling, agent–based modelling, information–theoretic modelling of financial markets, bounded rationality, and emergent complexity. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Nonlinearity, Complexity and Randomness in Economics reveals how true intellectual rigour in economics requires a basis in algorithmic, computable mathematical foundations.

Notes on Contributors vii

1. Introduction 1
Stefano Zambelli

2. Towards an Algorithmic Revolution in Economic Theory 7
K. Vela Velupillai

3. An Algorithmic Information–Theoretic Approach to the Behaviour of Financial Markets 37
Hector Zenil and Jean–Paul Delahaye

4. Complexity and Randomness in Mathematics: Philosophical Reflections on the Relevance for Economic Modelling 69
Sundar Sarukkai

5. Behavioural Complexity 85
Sami Al–Suwailem

6. Bounded Rationality and the Emergence of Simplicity Amidst Complexity 111
Cassey Lee

7. Emergent Complexity in Agent–Based Computational Economics 131
Shu–Heng Chen and Shu G.Wang

8. Non–Linear Dynamics, Complexity and Randomness: Algorithmic Foundations 151
K. Vela Velupillai

9. Stock–Flow Interactions, Disequilibrium Macroeconomics and the Role of Economic Policy 173
Toichiro Asada, Carl Chiarella, Peter Flaschel, Tarik Mouakil, Christian Proa no andWilli Semmler

10. Equilibrium Versus Market Efficiency: Randomness versus Complexity in Finance Markets 203
Joseph L. McCauley

11. Flexible Accelerator Economic Systems as Coupled Oscillators 211
Stefano Zambelli

12. Shifting Sands: Non–Linearity, Complexity and Randomness in Economics 237
Donald A.R. George

Index 241

Stefano Zambelli is Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italy. He is also a founding member of the Algorithmic Social Sciences Research Unit (ASSRU) at University of Trento.

Donald A.R. George is Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Edinburgh. He has published extensively on the economics of self–management, economic dynamics, and the economics of product reliability, and is joint founding Editor of the Journal of Economic Surveys.