Econophysics
Jul 29th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | Comments OffEconophysics is an interdisciplinary research field, applying theories and methods originally developed by physicists in order to solve problems in economics, usually those including uncertainty or stochastic processes and nonlinear dynamics. Its application to the study of financial markets has also been termed statistical finance referring to its roots in statistical physics. Physicists’ interest in the social sciences is not new; Daniel Bernoulli, as an example, was the originator of utility-based preferences. One of the founders of neoclassical economic theory, former Yale University Professor of Economics Irving Fisher, was originally trained under the renowned Yale physicist, Josiah Willard Gibbs. Econophysics was started in the mid 1990s by several physicists working in the subfield of statistical mechanics. They decided to tackle the complex problems posed by economics, especially by financial markets. Unsatisfied with the traditional explanations of economists, they applied tools and methods from physics – first to try to match financial data sets, and then to explain more general economic phenomena. One driving force behind econophysics arising at this time was the availability of huge amounts of financial data, starting in the 1980s. It became apparent that traditional methods of analysis were insufficient – standard economic methods dealt with homogeneous agents and equilibrium, while many of the more interesting phenomena in financial markets fundamentally depended on heterogeneous agents and far-from-equilibrium situations. The term “econophysics” was coined by H. Eugene Stanley in the mid 1990s, to describe the large number of papers written by physicists in the problems of (stock and other) markets, and first appeared in a conference on statistical physics in Calcutta in 1995 and its following publications. The inaugural meeting on Econophysics was organised 1998 in Budapest by Janos Kertesz and Imre Kondor. Currently, the almost regular meeting series on the topic include: Econophysics Colloquium, ESHIA/ WEHIA, ECONOPHYS-KOLKATA, APFA If “econophysics” is taken to denote the principle of applying statistical mechanics to economic analysis, as opposed to a particular literature or network, priority of innovation is probably due to Farjoun and Machover (1983). Their book Laws of Chaos: A Probabilistic Approach to Political Economy proposes dissolving (their words) the transformation problem in Marx’s political economy by re-conceptualising the relevant quantities as random variables. If, on the other side, “econophysics” is taken to denote the application of physics to economics, one can already consider the works of Léon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto as part of it. Indeed, as shown by Ingrao and Israel, general equilibrium theory in economics is just based on the physical concept of mechanical equilibrium. It should be noted that econophysics has nothing to do with the “physical quantities approach” to economics, advocated by Ian Steedman and others associated with Neo-Ricardianism. Basic tools of econophysics are probabilistic and statistical methods often taken from statistical physics. Physics models that have been applied in economics include percolation models, chaotic models developed to study cardiac arrest, and models with self-organizing criticality as well as other models developed for earthquake prediction. Moreover, there have been attempts to use the mathematical theory of complexity and information theory, as developed by many scientists among whom are Murray Gell-Mann and Claude E. Shannon, respectively. Since economic phenomena are the result of the interaction among many heterogeneous agents, there is an analogy with statistical mechanics, where many particles interact; but it must be taken into account that the properties of human beings and particles significantly differ. There are, however, various other tools from physics that have so far been used with mixed success, such as fluid dynamics, classical mechanics and quantum mechanics (including so-called classical economy and quantum economy), and the path integral formulation of statistical mechanics. There are also analogies between finance theory and diffusion theory. For instance, the Black-Scholes equation for option pricing is a diffusion-advection equation. Papers on econophysics have been published primarily in journals devoted to physics and statistical mechanics, rather than in leading economics journals. Mainstream economists have generally been unimpressed by this work. Some Heterodox economists, including Mauro Gallegati, Steve Keen and Paul Ormerod, have shown more interest, but also criticized trends in econophysics. In contrast, econophysics is having some impact on the more applied field of quantitative finance, whose scope and aims significantly differ from those of economic theory. Various econophysicists have introduced models for price fluctuations in financial markets or original points of view on established models. In physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate is a state of matter that occurs in certain gases at very low temperatures. Any elementary particle, atom, or molecule, can be classified as one of two types: a boson or a fermion. For example, an electron is a Fermion, while a photon or a helium atom is a Boson. In quantum mechanics, the energy of a (bound) particle is limited to set of discrete values, called energy levels. An important characteristic of a Fermion is that it obeys the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two fermions may occupy the same energy level. Bosons, on the other hand, do not obey the exclusion principle, and any number can exist in the same energy level. As a result, at very low energies (or temperatures), a great majority of the Bosons in a Bose gas can be crowded into the lowest energy state, creating a Bose–Einstein condensate. A Bose-Einstein condensate is therefore a quantum phenomenon characteristic of boson particles. Nevertheless, a similar type of condensation transition can occur also in off-equilibrium classical systems and in particular, complex networks. In this context, a condensation phenomenon occurs when a distribution of a large number of elements in a large number of element classes becomes degenerate,hard money lenders i.e. instead of having an even distribution of elements in the classes, one class (or a few classes) become occupied by a finite fraction of all the elements of the system. contact lenses Condensation transitions occur in traffic jams, where long queues of cars are found, in wealth distribution models where a few people might have a finite fraction of all the wealth or in spin glass models. 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Notable writers portable staging from antiquity through to the 14th century include Aristotle, Xenophon, Chanakya (also known as Kautilya), Qin Shi Huang, Thomas Aquinas, and Ibn Khaldun. The works of Aristotle had a profound influence on Aquinas, who in turn influenced the late scholastics of the 14th to 17th centuries. nature sounds Joseph Schumpeter described the latter as “coming nearer than any other group to being the ‘founders’ of scientific economics” as to monetary, interest, and value theory within a natural-law perspective. 1638 painting of a French seaport during the heyday of mercantilism Two groups, later called ‘mercantilists’ and ‘physiocrats’, more directly influenced the subsequent development of the subject. coats of arms Both groups were associated with the rise of economic nationalism and modern capitalism in Europe. family coat of arms Mercantilism was an economic doctrine that flourished from the 16th to 18th century in a prolific pamphlet literature, backlinks whether of merchants or statesmen. golden wedding anniversary gifts It held that a nation’s wealth depended on its accumulation of gold and silver. christening gift ideas Nations without access to mines could obtain gold and silver from trade only by selling goods abroad and restricting imports other than of gold and silver. christening presents The doctrine called for importing cheap raw materials to be used in manufacturing goods, which could be exported, used car prices and for state regulation to impose protective tariffs on foreign manufactured goods and prohibit manufacturing in the colonies. longboard deck Physiocrats, a group of 18th century French thinkers and writers, developed the idea of the economy as a circular flow of income and output. 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Local Realtors He posited that the growth of population and capital, pressing against a fixed supply of land, pushes up rents and holds down wages and profits. Malthus cautioned law makers on the effects of poverty reduction policies Thomas Robert Malthus used the idea of diminishing returns to explain low living standards. T1 line Human population, he argued, tended to increase geometrically, outstripping the production of food, which increased arithmetically. purity rings The force of a rapidly growing population against a limited amount of land meant diminishing returns to labor. weight benches The result, teeth grinding mouth guard he claimed, was chronically low wages, which prevented the standard of living for most of the population from rising above the subsistence level. buy Twitter followers Malthus also questioned the automatic tendency of a market economy to produce full employment. offerte viaggi He blamed unemployment upon the economy’s tendency to limit its spending by saving too much, iPhone deals a theme that lay forgotten until John Maynard Keynes revived it in the 1930s. realizzazione siti biella Coming at the end of the Classical tradition, kids furniture John Stuart Mill parted company with the earlier classical economists on the inevitability of the distribution of income produced by the market system. 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The market might be efficient in allocating resources but not in distributing income, text message marketing he wrote, making it necessary for society to intervene. article submission Value theory was important in classical theory. learn forex Smith wrote that the “real price of every thing . public car auctions .. is the toil and trouble of acquiring it” as influenced by its scarcity. new baby gifts Smith maintained that, with rent and profit, other costs besides wages also enter the price of a commodity. women seeking men Other classical economists presented variations on Smith, stained concrete fort worth termed the ‘labour theory of value’. car insurance Classical economics focused on the tendency coffee pods of markets to move to long-run equilibrium. hair loss treatment Marxist (later, Marxian) economics descends from classical economics. gas fire pit It derives from the work of Karl Marx. The first volume of Marx’s major work, Das Kapital, Pop Up Trailers was published in German in 1867. best acne treatment In it, Marx focused on the labour theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. seo The labour theory of value held that the value of an exchanged commodity Jobs Bridgend was determined by the labor that went into its production. ricostruzione unghie A body of theory later termed ‘neoclassical economics’ or ‘marginalism’ formed from about 1870 to 1910. turf supplies The term ‘economics’ was popularized by such neoclassical economists as Alfred Marshall as a concise synonym for ‘economic science’ and a substitute for the earlier, motion detector alarm broader term ‘political economy’. stamped concrete fort worth This corresponded to the influence on the subject of mathematical methods used in the natural sciences. dubai SEO Neoclassical economics systematized supply and demand as joint determinants of price and quantity in market equilibrium, comforter sets affecting both the allocation of output and the distribution of income. custom band merchandise It dispensed with the labour theory of value inherited from classical economics in favor of a marginal utility theory of value on the demand side and a more general theory of costs on the supply side. Free iPhone In microeconomics, neoclassical economics represents incentives and costs as playing a pervasive role in shaping decision making. Labradoodle An immediate example of this is the consumer theory of individual demand, which isolates how prices (as costs) and income affect quantity demanded. In macroeconomics it is reflected in an early and lasting neoclassical synthesis with Keynesian macroeconomics. Neoclassical economics is occasionally referred as orthodox economics whether by its critics or sympathizers. Modern mainstream economics builds on neoclassical economics but with many refinements that either supplement or generalize earlier analysis, such as econometrics, game theory, analysis of market failure and imperfect competition, and the neoclassical model of economic growth for analyzing long-run variables affecting national income. Keynesian economics John Maynard Keynes (right), was a key theorist in economics. Keynesian economics derives from John Maynard Keynes, in particular his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), which ushered in contemporary macroeconomics as a distinct field. The book focused on determinants of national income in the short run when prices are relatively inflexible. Keynes attempted to explain in broad theoretical detail why high labour-market unemployment might not be self-correcting due to low “effective demand” and why even price flexibility and monetary policy might be unavailing. Such terms as “revolutionary” have been applied to the book in its impact on economic analysis. Keynesian economics has two successors. Post-Keynesian economics also concentrates on macroeconomic rigidities and adjustment processes. Research on micro foundations for their models is represented as based on real-life practices rather than simple optimizing models. It is generally associated with the University of Cambridge and the work of Joan Robinson. New-Keynesian economics is also associated with developments in the Keynesian fashion. Within this group researchers tend to share with other economists the emphasis on models employing micro foundations and optimizing behavior but with a narrower focus on standard Keynesian themes such as price and wage rigidity. These are usually made to be endogenous features of the models, rather than simply assumed as in older Keynesian-style ones. The Chicago School of economics is best known for its free market advocacy and monetarist ideas. According to Milton Friedman and monetarists, market economies are inherently stable if left to themselves and depressions result only from government intervention. Friedman, for example, argued that the Great Depression was result of a contraction of the money supply, controlled by the Federal Reserve, and not by the lack of investment as Keynes had argued. Ben Bernanke, current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, is among the economists today generally accepting Friedman’s analysis of the causes of the Great Depression. Milton Friedman effectively took many of the basic principles set forth by Adam Smith and the classical economists and modernized them. One example of this is his article in the September 1970 issue of The New York Times Magazine, where he claims that the social responsibility of business should be “to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits…(through) open and free competition without deception or fraud.” Other well-known schools or trends of thought referring to a particular style of economics practiced at and disseminated from well-defined groups of academicians that have become known worldwide, include the Austrian School, the Freiburg School, the School of Lausanne, post-Keynesian economics and the Stockholm school. Contemporary mainstream economics is sometimes separated into the Saltwater approach of those universities along the Eastern and Western coasts of the US, and the Freshwater, or Chicago-school approach. Within macroeconomics there is, in general order of their appearance in the literature; classical economics, Keynesian economics, the neoclassical synthesis, post-Keynesian economics, monetarism, new classical economics, and supply-side economics. Alternative developments include ecological economics, institutional economics, evolutionary economics, dependency theory, structuralist economics, world systems theory, econophysics, and biophysical economics.