ABSTRACT
While complexity theory is something relatively new in economics, it is interesting to note that complexity in economic theory is a familiar and well-known topic in the history of the discipline. Many current research themes on complexity, such as autopoiesis, non-linearity, path-dependence and lock-in, were previously addressed-in different contexts-by economists interested in the complexities of real-life economies. Indeed, Alfred Marshall’s famous appeal for “economic biology” as the “Mecca of the economist,” Maynard Keynes’ emphasis on the instability of equilibrium positions and the role of expectations, Piero Sraffa’s and Nicholas Kaldor’s criticism of the partial equilibrium method due to the existence of increasing returns and non-linearities in economic processes, and Joan Robinson’s argument for the asymmetric consequences of time in economic theory are just a few examples of the importance of the themes relating to complexity in the intellectual history of economics. The writings of many others, such as Joseph Schumpeter, George Shackle, Friedrich Hayek and Richard Goodwin, could be mentioned as examples of the importance of the idea of complexity in the history of economics.
