Cinta de Moebio: Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales

Garcia, A. et al (2018) El paradigma de la complejidad en economía: más allá de las leyes y de la causalidad lineal. Cinta moebio 61: 80-94. doi: 10.4067/S0717-554X2018000100080

PDF

The paradigm of complexity in economics: beyond laws and linear causality

Alfredo García (garcia.alfredodaniel@gmail.com) Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) ORCID: 0000-0001-8976-8005

Leonardo Ivarola (ivarola@economicas.uba.ar) CONICET (Buenos Aires, Argentina) ORCID: 0000-0002-9997-3720

Martín Szybisz (mszybisz@hotmail.com) Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) ORCID: 0000-0003-0243-9976

Abstract

The nomological machines approach as a scheme of operation of economic models presupposes the existence of constant conjunctions of events that take place as long as certain ceteris paribus clauses are fulfilled. This approach involves linear causality, a macro-micro-macro methodology, and an isolated environment in which the machine operates, which makes it consistent with the neo-mechanistic approach. We believe that these assumptions are questionable under the paradigm of complexity. Given that a large part of economic phenomena responds to non-linear causality, it is necessary to consider interactions that do not occur at a micro or macro level but rather at a meso-level, and that it is neither necessary nor desirable to isolate from the environment, but it is possible to contemplate it using simulation models.

Key words: complexity, meso level, simulation, nomological machines.