Complexity in Social, Political, and Economic Systems

6 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2011

See all articles by Scott E. Page

Scott E. Page

University of Michigan - Center for the Study of Complex Systems

Date Written: 2010

Abstract

We live in a time of rising complexity both in the internal workings of our social, economic and political systems and in the outcomes that those systems produce. Increasing complexity has implications for social science: it hinders our ability to predict and explain and to prevent large deleterious events. To make headway on the problems that animate social and behavioral scientists: economic inequality, health disparities, achievement gaps, segregation, climate change, terrorism, and polarization among voters we must acknowledge their complexity through interdisciplinary teams. Harnessing complexity will require several changes: we must develop practical measures of social complexity that we can use to evaluate systems; we must learn how to identify combinations of interventions that improve systems; we must see variation and diversity as not just noise around the mean, but as sources of innovation and robustness; and finally, we must support methodologies like agent-based models that are better suited to capture complexity. These changes will improve our ability to predict outcomes, identity effective policy changes, design institutions, and, ultimately, to transform society.

Suggested Citation

Page, Scott E., Complexity in Social, Political, and Economic Systems (2010). American Economic Association, Ten Years and Beyond: Economists Answer NSF's Call for Long-Term Research Agendas, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1889359 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1889359

Scott E. Page (Contact Author)

University of Michigan - Center for the Study of Complex Systems ( email )

317 West Hall
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

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