Book Description
The new science of chaos was discovered in the analysis of weather. According to the author, economics is equally unpredictable. This book explores the way in which chaos may be used for economic analysis. The author applies the new insights of chaotic dynamics to economics. Given the unpredictable behaviour of economies, this new discipline promises much enlightenment. It has always been assumed that the highly irregular behaviour of economic time series was the consequence of extra-economic disturbances such as political decisions, trade unions, the weather, and foreign trade. Now it has become clear that there can be patterns which explain this confusing behaviour. - ;Capitalism as creative, chaotic evolution by structural change; Classical dynamics: the corn economy; The von Neumann model as a chaotic attractor; Growing in short and long waves; The structural and dynamical instability of the modern economy; An analysis of high and low growth rates; Irregular waves of growth from structural innovation; Dynamical control of economic waves by fiscal policy; A fresh look at traditional cycle models; Chaotic aperiodic behaviour from forced oscillators; Further reading; Index -