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Throughout the history of economics, a variety of analytical tools have been borrowed from the so-called exact sciences. As Schoe?er (1955) puts it: "They have taken their mathematics and their ded- tive techniques from physics, their statistics from genetics and agr- omy, their systems of classi?cation from taxonomy and chemistry, their model-construction techniques from astronomy and mechanics, and their methods of analysis of the consequences of actions from en- neering". The possibility of similarities of structure in mathematical models of economic and physical systems has been an important f- tor in the development of neoclassical theory. To treat the state of an economy as an equilibrium, analogous to the equilibrium of a mech- ical system has been a key concept in economics ever since it became a mathematically formalized science. Adopting a Newtonian paradigm neoclassical economics often is based on three fundamental concepts. Firstly, the representative agent who is a scale model of the whole society with extraordinary capacities, particularly concerning her - pability of information processing and computation. Of course, this is a problematic reduction as agents are both heterogeneous and bou- edly rational and limited in their cognitive capabilities. Secondly, it often con?ned itself to study systems in a state of equilibrium. But this concept is not adequate to describe and to support phenomena in perpetual motion.
List of contents
Evolution of Economic Systems.- Evolution of Trust in Economic Systems.- Keynes, Hayek and Complexity.- A look at the relationship between industrial dynamics and aggregate fluctuations.- Quantum Physics and Financial Markets.- Quantum-like Viewpoint on the Complexity and Randomness of the Financial Market.- Classical and Quantum-Like Randomness and the Financial Market.- New Empirical Approaches to Complex Economic Dynamics.- Examination of the Cost-of-Carry Formula for Futures Contracts on WIG20. Wavelet and Nonlinear Cointegration Analysis.- A Complex Approach to Estimate Shadow Economy: The Structural Equation Modelling.- Will house prices rise in 2007? A comparative assessment of house prices in London and Dublin.- Models of Risk Management and Decision Support.- Risk Measuremant and Fair Valuation Assessment in the Life Insurance Field.- Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Rankings in Multicriteria Decision Making.
About the author
Dr. Thomas Lux, Historiker und Archivar, war bis 2010 stellvertretender Dienststellenleiter des Hessischen Staatsarchivs Darmstadt sowie Dozent an der Archivschule Marburg. Zugleich war er abgeordnet an das Kultusministerium in Wiesbaden, wo er die Einführung elektronischer Archivierungssysteme koordinierte. Seit 2010 ist er Leiter der Lüneburger Ratsbücherei und des Lüneburger Stadtarchivs.
Summary
Throughout the history of economics, a variety of analytical tools have been borrowed from the so-called exact sciences. As Schoe?er (1955) puts it: “They have taken their mathematics and their ded- tive techniques from physics, their statistics from genetics and agr- omy, their systems of classi?cation from taxonomy and chemistry, their model-construction techniques from astronomy and mechanics, and their methods of analysis of the consequences of actions from en- neering”. The possibility of similarities of structure in mathematical models of economic and physical systems has been an important f- tor in the development of neoclassical theory. To treat the state of an economy as an equilibrium, analogous to the equilibrium of a mech- ical system has been a key concept in economics ever since it became a mathematically formalized science. Adopting a Newtonian paradigm neoclassical economics often is based on three fundamental concepts. Firstly, the representative agent who is a scale model of the whole society with extraordinary capacities, particularly concerning her - pability of information processing and computation. Of course, this is a problematic reduction as agents are both heterogeneous and bou- edly rational and limited in their cognitive capabilities. Secondly, it often con?ned itself to study systems in a state of equilibrium. But this concept is not adequate to describe and to support phenomena in perpetual motion.
