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Nonlinear Dynamics and Heterogeneous Interacting Agents
Economic application of nonlinear dynamics, microscopic agent-based modelling, and the use of artificial intelligence techniques as learning devices of boundedly rational actors are among the most exciting interdisciplinary ventures of economic theory over the past decade. This volume provides us with a most fascinating series of examples on "complexity in action" exemplifying the scope and explanatory power of these innovative approaches.
Innovations Towards Sustainability : Conditions and Consequences
The volume contains eight articles together with comments by twenty authors and discussants on the topic of innovations and sustainability. It provides a competently written, balanced and differentiated state-of-the-art insight into the relation between innovations and sustainability from the perspective of evolutionary economics. The scope of the contributions encompasses the technological, social, organizational, and political dimensions of the topic. Each article is discussed by a competently written commentary providing a critical evaluation and relating it to the relevant literature. Particular interest lies on the issues of steering opportunities and path formation capabilities by decentralized agents, or governmental institutions from the viewpoint of evolutionary economics.
Evolutionary Microeconomics
Classical microeconomics is intended to explain how a price system is able to coordinate the economic agents. But even if it can be extended to incomplete information and externalities, it remains grounded on very heroic assumptions. Agents are endowed with a very strong rationality, equilibrium is stated without a concrete process to achieve it, market is the unique institution considered. Evolutionary microeconomics is aimed at bypassing these limitations by considering a dynamic approach, however not biologically oriented.
Economics: Complex Windows
This volume contains papers that provide an analysis of topics in the following areas: Agent Based Models, Non-linear Time Series Analysis, Financial Market Dynamics, Econo-physics, Deterministic Chaos, Macroeconomic Dynamics. Economics: Complex Windows, does not present contributions to the sterile debate as to the merits of the different grand, or potentially grand paradigms of economics. Rather it offers a balanced collection of methodological advances which can be applied to concrete economic problems. Starting with a presentation of the "complexity approach" to economics, it goes on to provide a collection of applications to areas such as the analysis of market imperfections, risk assessment, non-linear dynamics, forecasting and highly irregular fluctuations. The tools used help to provide a clearer understanding and a more accurate analysis of these areas of economics. They also highlight the gulf which exists between current economic theory and real economic practice. The basic idea is to encourage economic researchers to embrace a more open and pragmatic approach to economics rather than to reluctantly move in this direction as if it were somehow a betrayal of established dogma. We hope, in this way, to open up avenues which will lead to progress beyond the "holy trinity", (rationality, equilibrium and greed) of modern economics.
