ABSTRACT
The complexity approach offers an alternative to reductionism for the study of economic systems. Its point of departure is that reductionism is not suitable to study systems with many parts that interact to produce global behaviour. The evolutionary perspective developed by evolutionary economics, economic historians and political economy can be integrated into complexity economics. Heterodox theories instead assume that economic agents behave more like real-world men and women, interdependent and with a variety of motivations, in real-world contexts with fundamental uncertainty and interdependent risk, driven by social-level phenomena such as power, caring, status, beliefs, cooperation and norms. The main demand for change in the economic curriculum comes from students. A pluralist textbook builds on hitherto marginalised but solid, renowned schools of thoughts in the discipline. Financialisation has accentuated many of the predatory aspects of modern economic life. But there is nothing natural about the economic system and nothing inevitable about our economic future.
