Abstract

This book is about the economics profession, or more precisely, the process by which economic thinking changes. We believe that this process is important because economics is currently at a turning point; it is changing from a static approach to understanding, in which deductive reasoning is the key method used, to a complexity approach to understanding, in which inductive and deductive methods are used simultaneously, and the full complexity of the system is acknowledged and dealt with. The change is ongoing and has many levels and dimensions, most of which have not coalesced to the degree that they have reached the lay public. But anyone involved in economic research recognizes the changes, although they do not necessarily understand how they all fit together.