This book considers the benefits of complexity, suggesting that economists should become a bit less certain in their policy conclusions. A broader range of models would include agent-based models, which use computational power to deal with specification of models that are far beyond analytic solution; and non-linear dynamic stochastic models, many of which are beyond analytic solution, but whose nature can be discovered by a combination of analytics and computer simulations.

Brings together a range of perspectives from internationally-renowned scholars. This book surveys conceptual approaches to understanding complexity as a key subject in evolutionary and political economy.

Untangle the jargon and understand how you're involved in everyday economics If you want to get to grips with the basics of economics and understand a subject that affects British citizens on a daily basis, then look no further than Economics For Dummies. This easy to understand guide takes you through the world of economics from understanding micro- and macroeconomics to demystifying complex topics such as capitalism and recession. This updated edition walks you through the history, principles and theories of economics as well as breaking down all the complicated terminology, leaving you clued up on economics in no time. Getting to grips – explore the science of economics and how people deal with scarcity Keeping an eye on it – learn all about macroeconomics and how economists keep track of everything Watch patterns emerge – understand why monitoring consumer behaviour is vital and all you need to know about microeconomics Your recession guide – expert advice on recessions and a detailed look at why they occur Open the book and find: Why you should care about economics and how it affects you Tools to help you understand a recession A guide to seductive economic fallacies All you need to know on monetary and fiscal policies How supply and demand can be made easy Why it's vital to track consumer choices An in-depth look at a profit-maximising firm and the core of capitalism Guidance on property rights and wrongs Learn to: Look through economic history and spot the trends Understand micro- and macroeconomics Get to grips with consumer behaviour and its influence on the economy Spot the signs of a recession and see how economic decisions affect you

Fourteen European and American economics and philosophy academics and researchers contribute 14 chapters exploring the issue of truth in economics, what economists actually do when they act as economic policy advisers, and what philosophers believe that economic policy advisers shall and can do. Featuring essays with a positivist notion of truth an

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} A Modern Guide to State Intervention investigates the impact of the changing role of the state, offering an alternative political economy for the third decade of the twenty-first century. Building on important factors including history, the role of institutions, society and economic structures, this Modern Guide considers economic and administrative interventions towards changing the destabilized status quo of modern societies.

The transition from a catching-up style economy to an innovation-driven economy poses a major challenge for China. This book examines the major issues at stake, outlines developments in crucial business fields and industries, and discusses the roles of top-down politics and bottom-up entrepreneurship. It focuses in particular on the institutional foundations of innovation, arguing that successful innovation relies on the favourable interplay of business, politics, and society, and that comprehensive institutional and organizational changes will be required in China in order for innovation to succeed. Overall, the book assesses how far China will be able to depart from the Western paradigm of successful innovation regimes and create its own innovation system with Chinese characteristics.

The book on complex systems, sustainability, and innovation explores a broad set of ideas and presents some of the state-of-the-art research in this field concisely in six chapters. In a complex system, it is difficult to know exactly how the individual components contribute to an observed behavior and the extent of each component's contributions. It is the interactions of the individual components that determine the emergent functionalities. This makes it difficult to understand and predict the behavior of complex systems and hence the effects of any innovations in this field. This necessitates for the emergence of a new age of innovations with the main focus on user orientation and sustainability. This book explores some of the complex systems and their dependence on the environment to provide a long-term perspective, aiding innovations and supporting a sustainable society. The intended audience of this book will mainly consist of researchers, research students, and practitioners in the field of complex systems and sustainability.

This book aims to answer two questions that are fundamental to the study of agent-based economic models: what is agent-based computational economics and why do we need agent-based economic modelling of economy? This book provides a review of the development of agent-based computational economics (ACE) from a perspective on how artificial economic agents are designed under the influences of complex sciences, experimental economics, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, psychology, anthropology and neuroscience. This book begins with a historical review of ACE by tracing its origins. From a modelling viewpoint, ACE brings truly decentralized procedures into market analysis, from a single market to the whole economy. This book also reviews how experimental economics and artificial intelligence have shaped the development of ACE. For the former, the book discusses how ACE models can be used to analyse the economic consequences of cognitive capacity, personality and cultural inheritance. For the latter, the book covers the various tools used to construct artificial adaptive agents, including reinforcement learning, fuzzy decision rules, neural networks, and evolutionary computation. This book will be of interest to graduate students researching computational economics, experimental economics, behavioural economics, and research methodology.

Finance, Econometrics and System Dynamics presents an overview of the concepts and tools for analyzing complex systems in a wide range of fields. The text integrates complexity with deterministic equations and concepts from real world examples, and appeals to a broad audience.

In economics agents are assumed to choose on the basis of rational calculations aimed at the maximization of their pleasure or profit. Formally, agents are said to manifest transitive and consistent preferences in attempting to maximize their utility in the presence of several constraints. They operate according to the choice imperative: given a set of alternatives, choose the best. This imperative works well in a static and simplistic framework, but it may fail or vary when 'the best' is changing continuously. This approach has been questioned by a descriptive approach that springing from the complexity theory tries to give a scientific basis to the way in which individuals really choose, showing that those models of human nature is routinely falsified by experiments since people are neither selfish nor rational. Thus inductive rules of thumb are usually implemented in order to make decisions in the presence of incomplete and heterogeneous information sets.