“The linear, mechanistic view of the world which pervades orthodox economics is simply not capable of capturing the richness and complexity of the rhythms and fluctuations of developed economies.”

Part II, Chapter 8, The Dynamics of Unemployment, p. 162
The Death of Economics (1994)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The linear, mechanistic view of the world which pervades orthodox economics is simply not capable of capturing the rich…" by Paul Ormerod?
Paul Ormerod photo
Paul Ormerod 20
English economist

Related quotes

Alan Moore photo

“The movements of the mind don’t follow any linear pattern, they can’t be explained with a mechanistic, clockwork view.”

Alan Moore (1953) English writer primarily known for his work in comic books

De Abaitua interview (1998)
Context: I have a more fractal way of working, if you like, it is more like the way most people’s minds actually work. They don’t work in any linear way. When your mind wanders if you ever pay attention to some of the paths it takes, you generally find it’s these paths of association that can link all over the place. …The movements of the mind don’t follow any linear pattern, they can’t be explained with a mechanistic, clockwork view. You could find quantum models of how the mind works that might fit.

“In complexity economics one is not searching out the truth; one is simply searching for a statistical fit that can be temporarily useful in our understanding of the economy.”

David Colander (1947) American economist

David Colander, Complexity and the History of Economic Thought, Routledge, London and New York, 2000, p. 6.
2000s

Ervin László photo

“The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed the breakdown of the mechanistic theory even within physics, the science where it was the most successful… Relativity took over in field physics, and the science of quantum theory in microphysics… In view of parallel developments in physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, and economics, many branches of the contemporary sciences became… ‘sciences of organized complexity’ — that is, systems sciences.”

Ervin László (1932) Hungarian musician and philosopher

Source: The systems view of the world (1996), p. 8 as cited in: Martha C. Beck (2013) "Contemporary Systems Sciences, Implications for the Nature and Value of Religion, the Five Principles of Pancasila, and the Five Pillars of Islam," Dialogue and Universalism-E Volume 4, Number 1/2013. p. 3 ( online http://www.emporia.edu/~cbrown/dnue/documents/vol04.no01.2013/Vol04.01.Beck.pdf).

Joan Robinson photo
George Dantzig photo
Henry Miller photo
W. Brian Arthur photo

“As we begin to understand complex systems, we begin to understand that we’re part of an ever-changing, interlocking, non-linear, kaleidoscopic world.”

W. Brian Arthur (1946) American economist

W. Brian Arthur in: Mitchell M. Waldrop (2004) Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos http://books.google.nl/books?id=VP9TWZtVvq8C&pg=PA333. p. 333

Chen Shui-bian photo

“I shall set up National Economic Development Advisory Conference to improve the economy in Taiwan”

Chen Shui-bian (1950) Taiwanese politician

During the official speech of his first anniversary of presidency, May 19, 2001
Pet Phrases, 2001

Ha-Joon Chang photo

“Trade is simply too important for economic development to be left to free trade economists.”

Source: Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008), Ch. 3, More trade, fewer ideologies, p. 83
Context: The importance of international trade for economic development cannot be overemphasized. But free trade is not the best path to economic development. Trade helps economic development only when the country employs a mixture of protection and open trade, constantly adjusting it according to its changing needs and capabilities. Trade is simply too important for economic development to be left to free trade economists.

Related topics