ABSTRACT
This chapter lays the groundwork for the analysis. In a sense, the arguments
developed here are pretty self-evident. They are simply meant to convey the
basic idea underlying the whole of Part I: mainstream economics has not, up
to today, been constructed in such a way as to be able to portray the economy
as a self-criticizing system. This chapter engages standard neoclassical eco-
nomics-or ‘‘Economics 101’’—and its more rudimentary portrayal of
rationality and interactions. As Chapters 3 and 4 will subsequently show,
the basic idea applies also to cutting-edge ‘‘complexity economics’’ and to its main philosophical proponent, Hayek.
