Markets should not be left to run themselves

There was an excellent article by Geoff Davies published in The Age today.  Amongst many good points he says:

"Systems scientists can recognise a modern economy, full of such instabilities, as a far-from-equilibrium self-organising system. The tidy neoclassical equilibrium theory does not even begin to be a useful approximation to such an economy.

Such self-organising systems are rather messier, and not everything about them is predictable. Nevertheless they typically have some regularities, and a recognisable character. In this respect they resemble living systems, which is no coincidence, because living systems are the best exemplars of self-organising systems."

Geoff Davies is a scientist, author and commentator. His most recent book is Sack the Economists and Disband Their Departments. Read about the rationale for his book here.

Steve Keen's commentary is also worth a read.