This chapter examines the parallels between economic universality and principles in solid-state physics, highlighting how macroeconomic behaviors can be predicted under certain conditions. The speakers convey optimism about addressing long-term economic challenges through the analysis of universality classes.
Physicist J. Doyne Farmer wants a new kind of economics that takes account of what we've learned from chaos theory and that builds more accurate models of how humans actually behave. Listen as he makes the case for complexity economics with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Farmer argues that complexity economics makes better predictions than standard economic theory and does a better job dealing with the biggest problems in today's society.