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Complexity Theory, Spontaneous Order and Friedrich Hayek:
Are Spontaneous Order and Complexity Essentially the Same Thing?
Revised and expanded paper in COMPLEXITY, V.6, N.4 (March/April 2001), 16-20.
William Tucker (1996) argues that complexity theory vindicates Friedrich Hayek's theory of spontaneous order (Hayek, 1967, 1937, as well as other works). Tucker further argues that complexity theory vindicates Hayek's laissez-faire economic philosophy as well. He accuses W. Brian Arthur and other economists at Santa Fe Institute of using complexity theory to justify government intervention even though they acknowledge that they have merely rediscovered Austrian economics. Arthur disputes this characterization of his work (Marita Prandoni, 1999) and justifiably so. Karen I. Vaughn and J. Loren Poulsen discuss the issue of Hayek and complexity theory (1998). They reach a similar conclusion, arguing that Hayek's work is a forerunner of complexity theory. While they quote Tucker, they do not go so far as to claim that complexity theory is simply a rediscovery of Hayek or a vindication of his free market philosophy.
This paper includes a very brief discussion of the application of complexity theory to the field of economics, the relationship of complexity theory to Hayek's "spontaneous order" and an answer to the question of whether complexity theory is simply a manifestation of Hayek's spontaneous order theory. It relies heavily upon Arthur's work in defining complexity insofar as it relates to the field of economics. There are overlaps in the respective theories, but complexity theory is qualitatively different. On one level there are differences in the core values of its practitioners. More importantly the current technological era, or information economy, was not a reality when Hayek was alive. |
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