Why is economics not a complex systems science?

From: Journal of Economic Issues | Date: December 1, 2006| Author: Foster, John | Copyright information

In 1898, Thorstein Veblen posed a fundamental question: "Why is economics not an evolutionary science?" Following dramatic advances in evolutionary biology in the latter half of the nineteenth century, this was a question that a number of economists were beginning to ask, including Alfred Marshall, one of the founding fathers of neoclassical economics. (1) While Veblen's insights led to the emergence of one of the two main strands of American institutional economics in the twentiet...

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