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In Complexity, the widely applauded
work by Mitchell Waldrop that introduced the exciting and
important work of the Santa Fe Institute to a wide audience,
Brian Arthur and his ideas played a pivotal role and were
shown connecting creatively with the many aspects of the
Institute's work.
This book brings together Professor Arthur's
pioneering articles and provides a comprehensive presentation
of his exciting vision of an economics that incorporates
increasing returns. After a decade of resistance from economists,
these ideas are now being widely discussed and adopted,
as Kenneth Arrow recounts in his foreword. In fundamental
ways they are changing our views of the working economy.
The essential ideas are first introduced
at a popular level with an article originally published
in the Scientific American. They are then shown in
powerful and convincing application to a variety of questions,
including competition between technologies and the development
of industrial clusters such as Silicon Valley. The volume
also contains the technical articles that underpin the creation
of this important and original work in economics.
Brian Arthur's work establishes a whole
new domain for economics, a new perspective on many contemporary
economic problems, and an explanation for many puzzling
features of the high technology economy. This book provides
the ideal introduction to and a comprehensive exposition
of Arthur's work.
W. Brian Arthur is Citibank Professor,
Santa Fe Institute.
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