Making Sense of Chaos

A Better Economics for a Better World

De: J. Doyne Farmer

Narrado por: J. Doyne Farmer

From a pioneer in the field of complexity science and chaos theory, a plan for solving the world’s most pressing problems

“Farmer convincingly argues that by using big data and today’s more powerful computers, we can build more realistic models and simulations of the global economy. . . . Farmer’s vision will undoubtedly be significant in how economics evolves.”—Tej Parikh, Financial Times, “Best New Books on Economics”

“Both a manifesto for a revolution in economics and a memoir of an unusual career.”—Ed Ballard, Wall Street Journal

We live in an age of increasing complexity—an era of accelerating technology and global interconnection that holds more promise, and more peril, than any other time in human history. The fossil fuels that have powered global wealth creation now threaten to destroy the world they helped build. Automation and digitization promise prosperity for some, unemployment for others. Financial crises fuel growing inequality, polarization, and the retreat of democracy. At heart, all these problems are rooted in the economy, yet the guidance provided by economic models has often failed.

Many books have been written about J. Doyne Farmer and his work, but this is the first in his own words. It presents a manifesto for how to do economics better. In this tale of science and ideas, Farmer fuses his profound knowledge and expertise with stories from his life to explain how we can bring a scientific revolution to bear on the economic conundrums facing society.

Using big data and ever more powerful computers, we are now able for the first time to apply complex systems science to economic activity, building realistic models of the global economy. The resulting simulations and the emergent behavior we observe form the cornerstone of the science of complexity economics, allowing us to test ideas and make significantly better economic predictions—to better address the hard problems facing the world.

©2024 J. Doyne Farmer (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Doyne Farmer is brilliant but...

I am all in on complexity science as the only way to examine the economy. I have been fascinated with complexity science since the early 90s and have read roughly 25 books on the topic.

Conventional macroeconomics is a joke. The tools are antiquated and the analysis tainted by assumptions that have been disproven repeatedly. That makes this story that Doyne set out to tell here so important.

Unfortunately, he was the wrong person to write and tell this story.

This book desperately needed a writer and EDITOR that organized the material and story much more logically than is told here. Doyne has made so many wonderful contributions to complexity science that he lost the thread of the story he is telling -- why complexity science is a superior methodology for analyzing, forecasting and managing the economy -- and instead continously peppered the narrative with tangentially related stories of his research, which are fascinating but often seem wandering.

i would still recommend this book but i firmly believe there is a better one to be written on this topic and i sincerely hope someone writes it.

A Very Important Book and a Great Story of Perseverence

100 years from now, the material in the book may be essential reading for all economic students! I wish it had been around when I did my undergrad degree. Thanks to the author for persevering in the face of conventional wisdom, and ensuring his work was visible and accessible to a mainstream audience.

The best economics book I’ve ever read

I’m a professional scientist, and I read pop-science books in nearly every field, except economics. I’ve never felt the economics models were realistic or useful, but I could not quite put my finger on why. This book explains the problems with the fundamental assumptions of classical Econ (utility maximization, equilibria, rational strategies under near perfect information flow). Then it gives a simple solution, agent based models (ABMs), which work well in nearly every field, but seem particularly suited for Econ. The book also explains the key concepts in complexity science. Well written, humble author who is a luminary in the field, and good narration.