Why Is Economics Not a Complex Systems Science?
@article{Foster2006WhyIE, title={Why Is Economics Not a Complex Systems Science?}, author={John Foster}, journal={Journal of Economic Issues}, year={2006}, volume={40}, pages={1069 - 1091} }
Economics is viewed as a discipline that is mainly concerned with 'simplistic' theorizing, centered upon constrained optimization. As such, it is ahistorical and outcome focused, ie, it does not deal with economic processes. It is argued that all parts of the economy are inhabited by complex adaptive systems operating in complicated historical contexts and that this should be acknowledged at the core of economic analysis. It is explained how economics changes in fundamental ways when such a…
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