Outline and slides

• Lecture 1: What is Complexity – Introduction
  [Student presentation]

• Lecture 2: What is Complexity – Features
  [Student presentation 1]
  [Student presentation 2]

• Lecture 3: Chaos
  [Netlogo model for Logistic Map]

• Lecture 4: Information and computational irreducibility

• Lecture 5: Non-ergodicity and uncertainty
  [Student presentation 1] [xls file]
  [Student presentation 2]
  [Student presentation 3]

• Lecture 6: Heuristics
  [Student presentation]

• Lecture 7: Evolution

• Lecture 8: Networks

• Lecture 9: Economic complexity
  [Student presentation 1]
  [Student presentation 2]

• Lecture 10: Agent-based models

• Laboratory: Netlogo
  [El Farol bar problem (modified version)]
  [Angels and mortals]

Reading list 

(entries in bold form exam material)

Understanding Complexity

1. Complex System – Wikipedia entry

2. Complex Adaptive System – Wikipedia entry

3. Anderson, P.W., Arrow, K., and Pines, D. (eds.) (1988), The Economy As An Evolving Complex System, Addison-Wesley.

4. Arthur, W.B., Durlauf, S.N., and Lanef, D. (eds.) (1997), The Economy As An Evolving Complex System II, CRC Press.

5. *Balland, P.-A., Broekel, T., Diodato, D., Giuliani, E., Hausmann, R., O'Clery, N., Rigby, D. (2022), “The new paradigm of economic complexity”, Research Policy, 51(3).

6. Beinhocker, E. (2007), The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society, Harvard Business Review Press.

7. *Beinhocker, E. (2013), "Reflexivity, Complexity, and the Nature of Social Science", Journal of Economic Methodology, 20(4): 330-342.

8. Blume, L.E., Durlauf, S.N. (eds.) (2005),  The Economy As An Evolving Complex System III, Oxford University Press.

9. Bookstaber, R. (2017), The end of theory, Princeton University Press.

10. Chesterman, C.W., Keating, C.B., and Ireland, V. (2022), “Complexity”, in: Keating, C.B., Katina, P.F., Chesterman Jr., C.W., and Pyne, J.C. (eds), Complex System Governance, Springer.

11. Duffy, J. (1998), “Review for Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up”, Southern Economic Journal, 64(3): 791-794.

12. *Epstein, J.M. and Axtell, R.L. (1996), Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up, MIT University Press.

13. Fontana, M. (2010), “The Santa Fe Perspective On Economics: Emerging Patterns in the Science of Complexity”, History of Economic Ideas, 18(2): 167-196.

14. Gell-Mann, M. (1994), The Quark And The Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex, The Santa Fe Institute Press.

15. *Hausmann, R., Hidalgo, C.A. et al. (2011), The Atlas of Economic Complexity, Puritan Press.

16. *Helbing, D. and Kirman, A. (2013), “Rethinking Economics Using Complexity Theory”, Real-world Economics Review, 64.

17. Hidalgo, C.A., and Hausmann, R. (2009), “The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

18. Hidalgo, C.A. (2021), "Economic Complexity Theory and Applications", Nat Rev Phys 3: 92–113.

19. Holland, J.H. (2014), Complexity: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press.

20. Johnston, N., and Greene, D. (2022), Conway’s Game of Life, Mathematics and Construction

21. Kahneman, D. (2011), Thinking fast and slow, Penguin Books.

22. *Koopmans, M. (2017), “Perspectives on Complexity, Its Definition and Applications in the Field”, Complicity, 14(1).

23. *Koppl, R. (2010), “Some epistemological implications of economic complexity”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76: 859–872.

24. *Lewis, P. (2015), “Notions of order and process in Hayek: the significance of emergence”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39: 1167–1190.

25. Lloyd, S. (2001), “Measures of Complexity: A Nonexhaustive List”, IEEE Control Systems Magazine, August: 7-8.

26. *Marchionatti, R. (2010), “J. M. Keynes, thinker of economic complexity”, History of Economic Ideas, 18(2): 115-146.

27. *Miller, J.H., and Page, S.E. (2007), Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life, Princeton University Press.

28. Mitchell, M. (2009), Complexity: A Guided Tour, Oxford University Press

29. *Peters, O. (2019), “The ergodicity problem in economics”, Nature Physics, 15: 1216-1221.

30. *Rosser, J.B. Jr. (1999), “On the Complexities of Complex Economic Dynamics”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(4): 169–192.

31. *Soros, G. (2013), “Fallibility, reflexivity, and the human uncertainty principle”, Journal of Economic Methodology, 20:4: 309-329.

32. *Standish, R.K. (2008), “Concept and Definition of Complexity”

33. Strikwerda, J. (2023), Organized Complexity in Business, Springer.

34. Weaver, W. (1948), “Science and complexity”, American Scientist, 36: 536-544.

Modelling Complexity (Netlogo)

Netlogo User Manual: Tutorial #1, #2, #3, Programming Guide, Behavior Space

Railsback, S.F., and Grimm, V. (2019), Agent-Based and Individual-Based Modeling. A practical Introduction, 2nd edition, Princeton University Press.

https://www.complexityexplorer.org/courses/84-fundamentals-of-netlogo/segments/7457?summary

Wilensky, U., and Rand, W. (2015), An introduction to agent-based modeling: Modeling natural, social and engineered complex systems with NetLogo, MIT Press

Additional references:

• https://www.complexityexplorer.org/courses/160-complexity-gains-curriculum/segments/17619

• https://complexityeconomists.com/resources/

• https://growthlab.hks.harvard.edu/policy-area/economic-complexity

•  See also the glossary at https://www.complexityexplorer.org/explore/glossary#

• The Growth Lab at Harvard University 

Exam

The exam consists of three parts:

1.  An oral presentation (15-20 minutes) – 3 marks. Entries marked with * are available for presentations. 

2. A written “theory” paper (1 hour) – 15 marks. This will be held on May 9, 2024, 12-1pm, room H8

3.  A modelling exercise using Netlogo (12 marks). Students should choose one Netlogo library model of their choice, and modify it to address meaningful research questions. They should then produce a report structured in three parts:

a.      Motivation for the modification(s) introduced

b.      Description of how the modification(s) were introduced

c.      Presentation of the results.

Students can form teams of up to 3 individuals for their modelling exercise. Deadline for sending the report is
May 31, 2024.