As an economist who was once a physicist, I have to say that
there is quite a lot of difference between the kinds of
math economics and physics typically use. Sure, they both
use calculus, but beyond that the similarities are scarce.
Differential equations across space and time dominate
Walt Warnick wrote:
... the business cycle behaves strikingly like an automatic control
system that has a positive feedback loop and damping. ...
The parallel goes further. ... a stable automatic control system involving
continuous feedback can become unstable if that same feedback is, instead,
I just checked out *More Heat Than Light: Economics as
Social Physics: Physics as Natures Economics*, also
by Philip Mirowski.
Here are a couple of quotes from the introduction that
I found interesting:
One rapidly discovers that the resemblances of the
theories [of physics and economics]
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I
appreciate them very much! I just re-read the rules
for the armchair mailing list, and I hope this is not
too methodological or whatever. Sorry about that!
I actually have read Mirowski's More Heat Than Light
and found it quite informative.
