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Applying a complex adaptive system and weak signals to economics teaching

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conference contribution
posted on 2024-07-13, 01:18 authored by Julie Gerstman, Carol Barry
In the eighteenth century, economics was established as a science which assumed economic reality could be conceptualized as formulating universal laws (de Cabo, Fernandez and Jaramillo). This proposition has since underpinned the widespread use of deterministic general equilibrium models to predict the impact of shocks (changes) on markets and the economy as a whole. The inability of economics to solve societal problems and to anticipate international crises, and widespread criticism by eminent academics and practicing economists, explains why it is necessary to consider a change in approach to teaching economics (Robinson (a), Brockway). The complex adaptive system (CAS) model addresses many issues raised by critics of the traditional approach to teaching economics. The CAS views the economy as a complex, interactive and dynamic system, made up of adaptive producers and consumers whose behaviour can be analyzed as a series of interactive responses to a change in circumstances. This paper sets out to explore the meaning and appropriateness of teaching economics as a CAS in an attempt to improve anticipating realistic sources of disruption and their likely interactive results.

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ISSN

1447-9494

Conference name

11th International Literacy and Education Research Network Conference on Learning, Havana, Cuba, 27-30 June 2004

Volume

11

Pagination

5 pp

Publisher

Common Ground

Copyright statement

Copyright © 2005 Common Ground Publishing. The published version is reproduced with the permission of the publisher.

Language

eng

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