| Sumario: | The writer discusses issues of economic complexity that should be of concern to policymakers. There are a number of messages in complex economic systems that may prove useful to policymakers. First, interdependence among various actors can unintentionally produce numerous varieties of aggregate or emergent behavior: Consequently, economic environments can stagnate in undesirable ways, such as the existence of high level social pathologies such as inequality or the predominance of poor technology. Second, the outcome of policies is vitally dependent upon the nature of the interdependencies; the impact of various policies may be very nonlinear, rendering history a poor guide to assessing policy effectiveness. Although numerous complex economic environments appear to be particularly conducive to social welfare-enhancing policies, it may prove particularly difficult to identify such policies. The writer concludes by discussing the importance of detailed empirical studies.
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