The discussion over economists and rationality reminded me of something I've been wanting to ask the economists on the list. Is the study of complexity/chaos making any headway in mainstream economics these days? I've read a bit of the work on complexity going on in the study of biology, and it seemed to me that it was one of the few mathematical models I'd seen that could talk about politics--or more generally about how economic actors try to change the rules of the game--in a fairly sophisticated way. I was wondering because what little (nonradical) economicsI've learned has always struck me as having little to do with the real world of business--even as seen through the eyes of mainstream business journalists. Have I been missing out? Anders Schneiderman, PhD. Center for Community Economic Research University of California at Berkeley
