Program: NON-EQUILIBRIUM ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS.
Areas: sociology, economics.
Introduction broadcast: december 1995.
Pannel broadcast: january 1995.
Notions of self-organisation, non-linearity, and autopoiesis, are beginning to play an important role in new theories of the economy. These theories question the assumption that an economic process moves towards an equilibrium state through decreasing returns. Instead the economy is viewed as an open dynamical system that is in constant evolution. Similar phenomena as those observed in natural processes, for example phase transitions by the amplification of small fluctuations through positive feedback loops, appear to explain a large variety of economical phenomena and may lead to new ways of management.
Similar trends are occurring in the study of social dynamics where concepts from the theory of complex systems are again beginning to play an important role. For example, in situations where there is a social dilemma, one can observe phase transitions from non-cooperative to cooperative behavior depending on some critical parameters. Revolutions and social conflicts can be see as periods in which chaos sets in as a prerequisite for new order.
Some examples that will be discussed in this program include: The dynamics of financial markets, the breakdown and formation of authoritarian regimes, the evolution from cooperative to non-cooperative behavior, and the domination of one product over another,
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