Money Matters: Butterfly Economics
Paul Ormerod is the founder of Post-Orthodox Economics. His book, "The Death of Economics" is a critique of Orthodox Economics. According to Ormerod, "orthodox economics is in many ways an empty box. Its understanding of the world is similar to that of the physical sciences in the Middle Ages. A few insights have been obtained which stand the test of time, but they are very few indeed, and the whole basis of conventional economics is deeply flawed." In this book, he propounds the use of descriptive techniques developed in nonlinear mathematics in order to study observed economic behavior. He concludes that competitive equilibrium is mathematically untenable and that individual behavior is neither definable nor evident.
In his paper, "On the Keynesian Micro-Foundation of Business Cycles", Ormerod states that Government's obsession with short-term prediction and control of the economy is futile. He believes that business cycles can not be abolished and arises because no two companies behave in idential ways and because the future is uncertain. It is this uncertainty that makes short-term control impossible. According to Ormerod, the government can impact the economy by influencing long-term optimism for the future, which results in less uncertainty. In his book, "Butterfly Economics", Ormerod argues that the economy should be viewed more as a living organism than a machine.
Works by Paul Ormerod:
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