1. Introduction 2. The Structure of Interaction 3. Fish Markets: An Example of the Emergence of Aggregate Coordination 4. Financial Markets: Bubbles, Herds and Crashes 5. Public Goods: A coordination problem 6. Segregation: Schelling’s Model 7. Conclusion
Biography
Alan Kirman is Professor Emeritus at l’Université d’Aix-Marseille lll and l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France.
‘What a refreshing read! Alan Kirman draws on his immense experience of how real people trade, from the Marseille and Ancona fish markets to experiments on public goods games, to propose an approach to economics centred on interaction between individuals and its consequences for aggregate behaviour. This book is essential reading in the quest for new economic thinking’.
- Prof. Robert MacKay, University of Warwick, UK
'Alan Kirman identifies the two key issues in interpreting the workings of the economy and related social interactions (e.g., public goods): the variability across individuals and the surprising degree of coordination. He explores these topics in many contexts, going well beyond the standard equilibrium analysis. This is an outstanding coverage, not blinking the difficult issues and unresolved problems but casting light where possible.'
-Kenneth J. Arrow, Professor of Economics (Emeritus), Stanford University, UK
'I have always followed the simple rule of thumb: If Alan Kirman writes anything, push everything else aside and read it right away. I did the same when his new book arrived. His book is beautifully written and shows the power of complex adaptive systems thinking for increasing the ability of economic science to do a better job of understanding real economies. One of my favorites is how he shows that it helps to understand internal forces that can cause abrupt and surprising change. But there is much more in this book which is what one would expect since, Kirman is a master contributor to many areas of economics. You will not only learn a lot from reading this amazing book but you will be entertained and break out into peals of laughter as well.'
-William A. Brock, Vilas Research Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
