Abstract
There is one main theme and correspondingly one formal result in this paper. On the basis of a general characterization of what is formally meant by a ‘complex economy’, underpinned by imaginative suggestions to this end in Foley (2003) and in Brock and Colander (2000; henceforth BC), it will be shown that an effective 1 theory of economic policy is impossible for such an economy. There is, in addition, also a half-baked conjecture; it will be suggested, seemingly paradoxically, that a ‘complex economy’ can be formally based on the foundations of orthodox general equilibrium theory and, hence, a similar impossibility result is valid in this case, too.
I mean by ‘effective’ the formal sense of the word in (classical) recursion theory.
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Velupillai, K.V. (2007). The Impossibility of an Effective Theory of Policy in a Complex Economy. In: Complexity Hints for Economic Policy. New Economic Windows. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0534-1_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0534-1_14
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