March 17, 2023

Economics

Ecologists take a nuanced, evidence-based approach to intervening in complex adaptive systems. This is how complexity thinking could reboot our approach to public policy.

Illustration by Claire Scully for Aeon

Ecology, by Midjourney

"Like ecologies, economies are complex adaptive systems. They exhibit feedback loops, delays, adaptation, path dependence, nonlinearity, emergent phenomena and — importantly — people.

"Economics is a social science. As the renowned physicist Murray Gell-Mann once quipped, 'Imagine how hard physics would be if electrons could think!'” - Kasey Klimes

ARTICLE: Designing an Economy Like an Ecologist

Systems Thinking

Economics

Making secondhand shopping feel stylish and enjoyable

‍ARTICLE: How Sweden’s ‘Secondhand Only’ Shopping Mall is Changing Retail

Economics

Endless growth is destroying the planet. We know how to stop it.

BOOK REVIEW: The Urgent Case for Shrinking the Economy

Economics

How money can help to disrupt some of the deep, systemic inequities in this country, instead of continuing to feed them.

BOOK EXCERPT: Decolonizing Wealth. What If Money Could Heal Us?

Economics

Why can't everyone have well-funded schools, reliable infrastructure, wages that keep workers out of poverty, or a comprehensive public health system equipped to handle pandemics?

ARTICLE: The Way Out of America’s Zero-Sum Thinking on Race and Wealth