Title: Advanced Political Economy
1Advanced Political Economy
- New trends in Political Economy Econophysics
2Why econophysics?
- MANY reasons but
- Two stand out
- Because weve solved all the big problems in
physics - Remark by physicist Cheng Zhang at 1st
Econophysics Conference, Bali 2002, in response
to question from economist Paul Ormerod - Because one dominant concept in modern physics is
highly applicable to finance uncertainty - Pre-Einsteinian physics based on uniformity
certainty - Newtonian Laws of Motion circa 1700s
- Supplemented by Maxwells equations for
electromagnetic phenomena circa 1800s - La Places conceit Give me the equations for
the universe I can predict not just the future
but also the past
3A Quick Physics Primer
- By late 19th century, just two anomalies
- Speed of light
- Light seen as wave
- Waves presumed to move through medium
- E.g., sound waves are cyclic compression/expansion
of air molecules - Light thought to move through aether
- Unobserved substance thought to permeate all
space - Aether fixed, universe moves with respect to it
- IF aether exists Earth moving through it, THEN
speed of light in one direction (forward into
aether) should be slower than other (backwards
with aether) - Michelson-Morley experiment speed of light
constant in all directions
4A Quick Physics Primer
- Black body radiation problem
- Atom known to exist
- Model of atom was positive nucleus orbited by
negative electrons - By Maxwells Newton equations, orbiting charge
should radiate energy - Electron should rapidly spiral into nucleus
- Black bodies (i.e. any object, not just heated
ones) should radiate energy - Fitted to experimental data, model predicted
EITHER infinite energy at low frequency OR
infinite energy at high energy - Actual energy profile was a hump
- Theory could fit one side or other but not both
5A Quick Physics Primer
- Einstein/Planck solutions to dual problems
- light comes in small discrete packets called
quanta - Energy not continuous but discrete with minimum
unit Plancks constant - Probability uncertainty became essential
aspects of physics - Physics also accepted Boltzmanns Laws after
strong 19th century resistance - Progression of energy from highly ordered to
disordered state increase in entropy - All work involves generation of wasted energy
work (desired) necessitates heat undesired but
unavoidable) - Combination of ideas develops measure of
knowledge called Shannons entropy
6A Quick Physics Primer
- Later refinements of Einstein-Planck physics
- Deterministic general theory of relativity
- Highly successful model of universe on large
scale - Speed of light, relativistic mass effects,
gravity bending of light - Probabilistic quantum theory of matter
- Bizarre experimental outcomes
- Double slit experiment
- Photons etc. interfere with each other even
when emitted singly - Dominant Copenhagen interpretationobserver
affects outcomebut many others - Essential some form of uncertain simultaneity
between quantum-entangled particles - Theorems/measurement derived from huge
experimental base
7A Quick Physics Primer
- Experiments involve massive particle
accelerators - Electro-magnetic cylinders pushing particles in
near vacuum to near light speed - Into collision with other particles
- Massive sprays of fundamental particles
(leptons, muons, bosons, quarks) analysed by
sensitive detectors - Heavy-duty statistical apparatus developed to
cope with data (computer hardware software,
mathematical theorems) - Many other areas of analysis opened up with
computing (e.g., Josephson junction circuitry,
quantum tunnelling circuitry, quantum
computing) but no breakthroughs - Physicists also develop complexity theory as
explanation for large-scale phenomena (many
standard deviations events) regularly seen in
physical data (weather, earthquakes)
8A Quick Physics Primer
- Todays unresolved boundaries
- Conflict between relativity quantum mechanics
on scale of very small very new - First microseconds of universe
- Behavior of matter at black holes, etc.
- Main theoretical development string theory
- Matter as multi-dimensional vibrating strings
- Standard models universe 10-11 dimensional
- Only 4 dimensions (space time) visible to us
- Tiny fraction of physicists now working on this
at highly abstract level (but still with
experimental-theoretical interplay - Experiments needed for string theory
controversies prohibitively expensive
9Enter econophysics
- Some physicists (e.g., Cheng Zhang, Joe McCauley,
Tsallis) had innate curiousity about economics
social phenomena - Large numbers physics graduate students with
little possibility of experimental
apprenticeship - Huge body of pure financial data available for
experimental analysis - Clear (and, to physicists, strange but not
unfamiliar) signs of discord in
economic/financial theory - Planck on acceptance of his ideas in physics An
important scientific innovation rarely makes its
way by gradually winning over and converting its
opponents it rarely happens that Saul becomes
Paul. What does happen is that its opponents
gradually die out, and that the growing
generation is familiarised with the ideas from
the beginning. (M. Planck, in G. Holton (Ed.),
Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1973 in
Scientific Autobiography, New York Philosophical
Library, New York, 1949.)
10Enter econophysics
- A research paradigm develops
- Why not apply tools of theoretical physics to
large body of financial data see what we find? - Large number of regularities seen by physicists
with respect to advanced physics that, from
neoclassical economics point of view, were
anomalies - Distributions of financial data follow Power /
Zipf / Pareto Distributions - Standard characteristic of highly interacting
nonlinear nonequilibrium processes - Versus neoclassical belief data should follow
innately random distributions since markets
assumed to be rational, rational defined as
all knowing, system assumed stable - Huge baggage of a priori assumptions at conflict
with data
11Enter econophysics
- Main areas of research
- Statistical patterns in finance
- Also income distribution, firm sizes, extinction
patterns - Initially chaos (Mandlebrot etc.) but
subsequently Power Laws, Zipf Laws, Pareto,
Exponential, Levy Gamma distributions now
Tsalliss q nonextensive statistical
mechanics - Parsimonious models of financial market
behaviour - El Farol model Minority Game
- Little work to date in alternative economic
foundations - May come with time, and will probably be
radically different to either neoclassical or
classical foundations
12Statistical Patterns
- Perspective of econophysicists very different to
neoclassical economists (and other victims of
equilibrium thinking) - Statistical physicists, myself included, are
extremely interested in fluctuations. In the
field of economics, we find ourselves surrounded
by fluctuationswere it not for economic
fluctuations, economists would have no work to
do. Gene Stanley, (editor Physica A journal of
inter-disciplinary physics) 2000, Exotic
statistical physics Applications to biology,
medicine, and economics, Physica A 285 1-17. - Versus mechanisms that achieve equilibrium
focus of standard economic paradigm
13Statistical Patterns
- What do we do when we carry out research on
economic fluctuations? Our approach has been to
use our experience in critical phenomena research
and assume that when we see fluctuations,
correlations may be present. (10) - A search for feedback effects between data rather
than assumption of independence - Main finding events that are rare by 8 orders
of magnitudeevents that occur once in every 100
million tradesfall on the same curve as everyday
events. (12) - Subsumes results with all distribution types
- Inspiration for main theoretical development
nonextensive statistical mechanics - Commenced with Mandlebrots work on fractals in
1960s
14Mandelbrot, fractals, chaos
- Mandelbrot began research in economics into
income distribution - Vilfredo Pareto in late 1800s noticed Power Law
in income distribution - Number of people N earning more than x follows
formula - log N log A m log x (A, m constants)
- In 1961 by chance saw graph of cotton prices that
mirrored data on income distribution - Noticed scale invariance as a feature of
economic data argued fundamental feature of
financial data - BUT ignored in favour of The New Finance of
Sharpe CAPM! - Shifted into geography geometry now insights
re-emerging as foundation of new approach to
finance
15Power (and other) Laws
- Power Laws, Zipf Laws, Pareto Laws all relate to
distributions in which elements in the system
affect each other very strongly and nonlinearly - Resulting patterns appear random but are not
- Compared to truly random data, have many more
extreme events - But random processes can be generated by strongly
chaotic processes! - Difference appears to lie in mixing random
processes achieve strong mixing of elements
chaotic processes lead to patterns of
self-similarity, not uniformity - Area still very speculative but clearly on track
to much more successful theory of finance than
CAPM
16Non-extensive statistical mechanics
- The basics Entropy
- Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics
- Shannon information theory
- Advanced non-extensive statistical mechanics
- After the hairy stuff, a quick survey of major
trends in econophysics
17Entropy
Warning!
Warning!
Mind-bending material approaching!
- Best introduced by jokes
- The 3 laws of thermodynamics are
- 1. You can't win.
- 2. You can't even break even.
- 3. You can't get out of the game.
- A more informative version
- 1. You can't win, you can only break even.
- 2. You can only break even at absolute zero.
- 3. You can never reach absolute zero.
18Entropy the 2nd law
- Starting at the beginning
- Key concept in science in general is conservation
law some key entity is conserved through a
series of transformations - In physics, its energy
- 1st law is Law of Conservation of Energy
Energy can change form but cannot be created or
destroyed - Hence You cant win
- Not a priori belief (like economics law of one
price or other empirically false propositions)
but expression of observed regularity - Form of energy can change but amount of energy in
a system remains constant - Define overall energy as U and two
transformations of it as Q (heat) W (work)
19Entropy
- Then DUQW0
- Rule first developed in experiments with steam
engines where focus was on inputting heat
(burning coal) and getting out work (turning a
shaft), so expressed as - DUQ-W
- Just a convention reflecting heat in, work out
- Objective of engineers was to achieve maximum
conversion of heat (Q) into work (W), but found
waste heat always generated. - Puzzle became why?
- Solved by imagining ideal device that converted
all energy of system U into work W and then
extending analysis to non-ideal systems (compare
this to economics)
20Entropy
- Basic model piston moving weight
- If weight removed from piston, then gas would
move piston to new location where pressure in gas
balanced weight of piston
Weightat height H
CylinderVolume V
- What if weight consisted of many fine grains of
sand one was removed at a time? - How far could piston itself raise the sand?
- How much work could the piston do on the sand?
PistonArea A
GasPressure P
21Entropy
- Upwards force from compressed gas equals Pressure
P times area of piston A - At start of process, weight stationary gas at
pressure P - Forces must then be in balance
- Force of gas (P.A) just equals downwards force of
gravity on weight - If weight moves small dh distance then change in
volume dV equals A times dh - Work done is integral of force over distance it
operates
where
so that
22Entropy
- In ideal cylinder (all energy converted into
work), work equals integral of pressure with
respect to volume - In 0 efficiency cylinder (all energy converted
into heat), heat equals integral of temperature
with respect to something well label S for
now. - In between, the rule applies that
- Change in energy equals heat plus work becomes
- Change in energy Temperature times change in
Entropy Pressure times change in Volume - (change in volume is workuseful expenditure of
energy) - So how efficient can a working engine be?
23Entropy
- Basic cycle of internal combustion engine is
- Piston at top of cylinder pressure temperature
low - Call Volume V1, Pressure P1, Temperature T1
- Piston pushed by crankshaft pressure increased
- Temperature necessarily rises
- Volume V2, Pressure P2, Temperature T2
- Gas ignited
- Temperature rises dramatically
- Volume V3V2, Pressure P3P2, Temperature T3
- Piston pushed back to starting position
- Temperature falls, volume rises, pressure drops
- Volume V4V1, Pressure P4, Temperature T4
- Hot gases expelled
- Return to V1, P1, T1
24Entropy
- Perfect efficiency engine now assumed no
friction losses etc., all processes involve only
changes in pressure or temperature, not both at
once - Change in energy of perfect gas given by heat
capacity times change in temperature e.g. heat
capacity 5 units - Example temperatures of
- T1300K (Kelvin or temperature above absolute
zero) - T2400
- T31600
- T4600
- Can now apply
- where at each stage either dS0 or dV0 (perfect
efficiency)
25Entropy
- Stage 1 all compression, dS0. So
- (work in so negative work output)
- Stage 2 all temperature change, dV0. So
- Stage 3 all expansion, dS0. So
- Stage 4 all temperature change, dV0. So
- Work sum is -50050004500
- Energy input is 6000
- Ratio is efficiency of perfect engine
4500/600075
26Entropy
- Actual engine has lower efficiency
- Conversion of some compression into temperature,
some rise in temperature into rise in volume - As well as the usual suspects friction, etc.
- Typically achieve only half ideal ratio.
- Whats the problem?
- Truly ideal engine design reveals part of cause
- Carnot (1824) imagined perfect heat-exchange
engine - Found engine had to discharge heat to perform
work - Efficiency function of discharge temperature
level - Only if discharge temperature was absolute zero
could engine be 100 efficient
27Entropy Carnot engine
- During initial expansion phase, gas in cylinder
kept at constant temperature TH heat QH must be
added
- During work expansion phase, temperature drops
because volume expands W extracted
- During initial contraction phase, gas in cylinder
kept at constant temperature TC heat QC must be
extracted
- During final contraction phase, temperature rises
because volume contracts
28Entropy Carnot engine
- Since engine repeats cycle, energy change over
whole cycle zero so Work extracted must equal
sum of heat input extraction
- Engine efficiency is ratio of work output to
energy input
- There is a simple relationship between Q and T
- So energy efficiency can only be 100 of TC0
Kelvin
- Also explains why high temperature engines are
more efficient
29Entropy
- So something in nature means that no work
process can occur without generating waste heat. - That something is 2nd law of thermodynamics
entropy increases where entropy is the S in
- General statement For any process by which a
thermodynamic system is in interaction with the
environment, the total change of entropy of
system and environment can almost never be
negative. If only reversible processes occur, the
total change of entropy is zero if irreversible
processes occur as well, then it is positive. - S taken as measure of disorder of system since
related by Boltzmann Gibbs to the number of
distinguishable states W that a system can be in
by
30Entropy
- Boltzmanns formula linked to structure of matter
by concept of microstates - Overall state (temperature, pressure, etc) of
given system reflects ensemble of states of
constituents (atoms, molecules, etc.) - State of constituents reflects
- How many ways constituents can be organised
- Number of constituents having each possible state
- E.g., consider placing colour squares on 4x4 grid
- Say 1st square is red can be placed in any of 16
locations
1
- Next e.g. blue placed in any of 15
- 16!20,920,000,000,000,000 possible combinations!
31Entropy
- But say there is 1 red, 3 green, 5 blue, 7 orange
squares in ensemble. Then
- are different combinations but cant be
distinguished from each other
and
- Ditto for other arrangements of other colours
(numbers there just to show difference) - To compensate, have to divide 16! by product of
all possible ways of achieving identical
microstates - Divide by 1! x 3! x 5! x 7!3,628,800, leaving
5,765,760 distinct arrangements - General formula is
32Entropy
- Where W is number of discrete microstates system
can be in and pi is probability of the ith such
state - Entropy as defined here applies to ergodic
systems - dynamics whose time averages coincide with
ensemble averages (Tsallis et al. 2003,
Nonextensive statistical mechanics and
economics, Physica A 324 89-100) - Colloquially, systems that converge to or orbit
long run equilibrium values that over time fill
the entire phase space
33Entropy
- Consider our 4x4 grid
- Imagine these represent entities in a dynamic
system - E.g., gas molecules in a tiny container
- Odds of squares being in highly ordered initial
state (all similar colours next to each other)
very low
- Many more ways for squares to be in more
disordered arrangement than one where all
colours are mixed up - Over time, each square will spend 1/16th of its
time in each of 16 possible positions (time
averages coincide with ensemble averages)
- But far from all (physical or social) systems
have this characteristic
34Entropy
- For example, Lorenzs model
- Complex dynamics means time average very
different to average over phase space because
system never goes near equilibria
35Entropy
- Problem of failure of deep, established concept
like Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy to characterise many
real world systems troubled physicists,
statisticians - Ironically, CAPM analysis of derivatives
(Black-Scholes) related to this area - Many alternative characterisations proposed
- Power Laws
- Hurst exponents
-
- Best to date is revised version of
Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy suggested by Tsallis in
1985 - Sheer intuitionnot derived but guessed at.
- Interesting example of how scientific advance can
occur. In his words
36Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics
- A MexicanFrenchBrazilian workshop entitled
First Workshop in Statistical Mechanics was
held in Mexico City, during 213 September 1985
That was the time of fashionable multifractals
and related matters. During one of the coffee
breaks, everybody went out from the lecture room,
excepting Brezin, a Mexican student , and
myself Brezin was explaining something to the
student. At a certain moment, he addressed some
point presumably related to multifractalsfrom my
seat I could not hear their conversation, but I
could see the equations Brezin was writing. He
was using pq, and it suddenly came to my
mindlike a flash and without further
intentionthat, with powers of probabilities, one
could generalize standard statistical mechanics,
by generalizing the BG entropy itself and then
following Gibbs path. Back to Rio de Janeiro, I
wrote on a single shot the expression for the
generalized entropy, namely
Tsallis 2004 727
37Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics
- Why does it matter?
- q 1 returns standard distributions
- q gt 1 privileges common events
- Common (near mean events) occur more frequently
than for Gaussian/standard entropy distributions
and - rare events will lead to large fluctuations,
whereas more common events will result in more
moderate fluctuations. - A concrete consequence of this is that the BG
formalism yields exponential equilibrium
distributions (and time behavior of typical
relaxation functions), whereas nonextensive
statistics yields (asymptotic) power-law
distributions (Tsallis et al. 2003 91) - Tsalliss q may capture interactive instability
of finance markets. Tsallis distributions fit
finance data accurately with q1.4
38Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics
- E.g., Stock market returns for top ten stocks on
NYSE
Dotted line is the Gaussian distribution 2-
and 3-min curves are moved vertically for display
purposes Far better fit to data than CAPM
models
- Many other areas where Tsalliss q enables
accurate fit to data whereas standard extensive
statistics models (Black-Scholes, CAPM, EMH etc.)
do not
39Econophysics
- Tsalliss analysis may become foundation of all
other statistical analysis by econophysicists - In meantime, many other areas where skills
technologies of physicists are being applied.
E.g. - Sornettes analysis of asset bubbles and bursts
- Minority Game parsimonious model of finance
markets - Scarfettas analysis of income distribution
- Ponzis model of multi-sectoral dynamics
- Many others can be found at
- http//www.unifr.ch/econophysics/
40Why Stock Markets Crash
- Sornette geophysicist
- Study of earths dynamics
- Developed theory of earthquakes as extension of
Per Baks theory of self-organised criticality - Classic model the sand pile
- Pour sand onto surface one grain at a time
- For a while, pyramidal shape forms
- Slope of pyramid gets steeper
- Slope then collapses in avalanche
- One grain of sand causes more than one to fall in
a chain reaction - Collapse of pyramid reduces slope below critical
level - Pyramid reforms process repeats
41Why Stock Markets Crash
- Sornettes earthquake model similar with tectonic
plates as the grains of sand, motion of earths
core as pouring force - Movement of molten core causes plates to move on
surface - Increasing tension between plates causing
vibrations that increased over time - Release in large scale earthquake
- Decreasing tension between plates over time
process repeats - Pattern captured by log periodic function
- Applied to stock market where collective
interactions between agents leading to a cascade
of amplifications replace movement of plates
42Why Stock Markets Crash
- Basic function for change of index is of the form
- Predicts increasing frequency of fluctuations as
critical time approaches - Problem is to identify critical time!
43Why Stock Markets Crash
- On other side of crash, critical time known
- Curiosity now is does crash fit log-periodic
form? - Graph fits US SP500 to function
- Problems develop when extended further in time
- Tectonic plate dynamics dont change on human
time scale finance markets economies do - But clear relevance of log periodic form to
short-term market movements before/after crash
44The Minority Game
- Minority Game development begun by economist
Brian Arthur - Model was El Farol Irish (yes, Irish!) pub in
Santa Fe - Popular after-hours venue but only pleasant when
neither empty nor full - Problem how to predict whether worth attending a
given night? - Arthurs model 100 Irish music fans in Santa Fe
bar only enjoyable when less than 40 attend a
night - Fans decide whether or not to attend based on
various strategies - A minority game you win by being in the
minority - Therefore no equilibrium any winning strategy
will break down as other agents adopt it
45The Minority Game
- Extended by Yi-Cheng Zhang others to Minority
Game - Artificial stock market in which winning strategy
is to sell when majority is buying, buy when
majority selling - Realisation that MG isnt a complete model
- In financial trading, often it is convenient to
join the majority trend, not to fight against the
trend. During the Internet stock follies, it was
possible to reap considerable profits by going
along with the explosive boom, provided one got
off the trend in time. There are many other
situations where success is associated with
conforming with the majority. - But proposition that might still be on the
money because
46The Minority Game
- majority situations may actually have minority
elements embedded in them. The real financial
trading probably requires a mixed
minority-majority strategy, in which timing is
essential. The minority situations seem to
prevail in the long run because speculators
cannot all be winners. Indeed no boom is without
end, being different from the crowd at the right
time is the key to success. In a booming trend,
it is the minority of those who get off first who
win, the others lose. (Damien Challet, Matteo
Marsili, Yi-cheng Zhang 2003, Minority Games,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 12-13)
47A two-part income distribution model
- Basic Econophysics model a Power Law
- Implies increasing concentration all the way up
- Actual empirics of US data suggested a tail (low
income) that didnt fit Power Law - An empirical distribution of wealth shows an
abrupt change between the lowmedium range, that
may be fitted by a non-monotonic function with an
exponential-like tail such as a gamma
distribution, and the high wealth range, that is
well fitted by a Pareto or inverse power-law
function. (Nicola Scafetta, Sergio Picozzi and
Bruce J West, 2004, An out-of-equilibrium model
of the distributions of wealth, Quantitative
Finance 4 353)
48A two-part income distribution model
- Scarfetta et al suggest
- Top end (rich) due to investment
- Power Law wealth distribution generates matching
income one - Bottom end (poor) due to trade which is biased in
favour of poor - Hard to explain from neoclassical foundation
- Neoclassic economists do not expect trade to
involve a transfer of wealth, but rather an
increase in utility for both parties with a zero
net transfer of wealth.
49A two-part income distribution model
- Scarfetta et al. propose
- in trades there may be a transfer of wealth from
one agent to the other because the price paid
fluctuates around an equilibrium price ( value)
and, therefore, the price may differ from the
value of the commodity transferred - (b) in a trade transaction the amount of wealth
that may move from one agent to the other is
bounded because the price and the value of a
commodity cannot (usually) exceed the wealth of
the poorer of the two traders - (c) the price is socially determined in such a
way that the trade is statistically biased in
favour of the poorer trader.
50A two-part income distribution model
- In fact results validate my interpretation of
Marx on value - Marx spoke of the relationship between the wage
and the value of labour-power, he used the term
minimum wage, that is, a subsistence payment
1315, thus emphasizing that in practice he
expected the wage to exceed this minimum and
hence there to be a price-value divergence in
favour of the working class at the expense of
capitalists. These effects can be incorporated
into the social equality index f of equation (14)
that measures the statistical bias of the trade
in favour of the poor.
51Multi-sectoral instability
- Physicists perception of economic cycles
- Economic dynamics is easily observed to be far
from equilibrium where periodic recessions,
unemployment and unstable prices occur
persistently. An understanding of the origins of
this behaviour from the viewpoint of complex
dynamical systems theory would be very valuable.
(Adam Ponzi, Ayumu Yasutomi, and Kunihiko Kaneko
2003, Multiple Timescale Dynamics in Economic
Production Networks, APS/123-QED - Starting point is standard von Neumann
equilibrium growth path
52Multi-sectoral instability
- The VNM is defined as a static equilibrium model
describing relationships between the variables
which must hold at equilibrium. Equilibrium is a
state of balanced growth where prices are
constant. There are no dynamics defined by the
model which might describe out of equilibrium or
approach to equilibrium behaviour. (1) - However it is rarely the case that economic
processes are in equilibrium - Their approach actual output depends on the
quantity of the minimum of its input supplies and
not on the quantities of its other supplies. (1)
53Multi-sectoral instability
- Basic picture of economy reflects physics
backgroundprocesses described as catalytic
play important role
- A production process is the operation which
converts one bundle of goods, including capital
equipment, into another bundle of goods,
including the capital equipment.
- Capital goods therefore function approximately
like catalysts in chemical reactions, reformed at
the end of the reaction in amounts conserved in
the reaction. (1)
54Multi-sectoral instability
- Model implemented as computer simulation and
generates obvious cycles in output, prices, etc.
- Not necessarily correct model of market economy
- Constraint normally effective demand, not supply
(stocks provide buffer)
- But useful example of dynamic multisectoral
modelling
55Conclusion?
- Econophysics still in infancy, but
- Unencumbered by equilibrium obsession
- Equipped with advanced mathematical computing
data analysis tools designed to cope with
uncertainty nonlinearity - For first time ever, a coherent group of rivals
to neoclassicism who totally outgun it in
technical terms - At time of great weakness of neoclassical
paradigm in finance - Best chance yet for break in neoclassical
hegemony - However, some problems
56Worrying Trends in Econophysics
- Paper in Physica A by Mauro Gallegati, Steve
Keen, Thomas Lux, Paul Ormerod - First, a lack of awareness of work that has been
done within economics itself. - Second, resistance to more rigorous and robust
statistical methodology. - Third, the belief that universal empirical
regularities can be found in many areas of
economic activity. - Fourth, the theoretical models which are being
used to explain empirical phenomena. - My beef use of conservation laws where they
dont apply - Energy is conserved nothing in economics (like
utility, income, etc.) is conserved
57Spurious conservation
- The criticism by some economists that the model
is not valid because money is conserved and other
levels of money such as credit are not accounted
for seems to these authors to be ill founded. It
is certainly possible to develop any model to
include, for example, debt. This could be simply
a matter of allowing the money held by an
individual to take negative values...20, p. 145 - No it cantremember Circuit model
- Money not conserved but endogenously created
- Debt not simply negative money
58Conclusion
- But overall, empirical focus of econophysicists
vital - No ideological commitment to spurious analysis
- Ultimate desire to model the data, not turn
the model into the data - There may yet be an empirical economics
- BUT
- The math (and the computing) will be a bugger!