Economic Problems in a Nonlinear World examines the economy as a complex adaptive system shaped by interconnected forces, inequality, and questions of resilience and justice. Why was this an important book for you to write?

Conventional equilibrium-based neoliberal economics has failed to promote freedom and human flourishing. Traditional economic analysis cannot explain income and wealth inequality, institutional capture, declining social mobility, and the extraordinary concentration of market power. Complexity economics is a relatively new school of thought (see J. Doyne Farmer and The Santa Fe Institute) that uses nonlinear dynamics to provide an analytical method to explain how these pernicious social problems, and a path to recovery that promotes broad-based prosperity and genuine freedom.

Who did you envision as your primary audience?

Professional economists, policymakers, and scholars.

How did you decide the order in which to introduce concepts and applications?

First, explain why equilibrium is a linear myth. Secondly, explain the concept of nonlinearity. Thirdly, explain complexity economics in the context of our highly interconnected economy and world. Fourthly, apply complexity and systems thinking to important social problems in a democratic market economy. Lastly, provide a repair-and-recovery intellectual framework for promoting a human-centric agenda for greater human flourishing, agency, and democratic freedom.

What do you hope economists, policymakers, and general readers take away from your work?

We created these problems. Therefore, we are not doomed to a static, sub-optimal lived experience. Strengthening the middle class, promoting unions, raising inheritance taxes, and making life’s essentials available (healthcare, education, reduced labor precarity, and social mobility) will reduce political polarization and social divisions for the betterment of us all.

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