Symmetry and Economic Invariance: An Introduction explores how symmetry and invariance of economic models can provide insights into their properties. While the professional economist is nowadays adept at many of the mathematical techniques used in static and dynamic optimization models, group theory is still not among his or her repertoire of tools. The authors aim to show that group theoretic methods form a natural extension of the techniques commonly used in economics and that they can be easily mastered.
Symmetry and Economic Invariance (second enhanced edition) explores how the symmetry and invariance of economic models can provide insights into their properties. Although the professional economist of today is adept at many of the mathematical techniques used in static and dynamic optimization models, group theory is still not among his or her repertoire of tools. The authors aim to show that group theoretic methods form a natural extension of the techniques commonly used in economics and that they can be easily mastered. Part I provides an introduction that minimizes prerequisites including prior knowledge of group theory. Part II discusses recent developments in the field.
Theory of Technical Change and Economic Invariance: Application of Lie Groups presents the economic invariance problems observable behavior under general transformations such as taste change or technical change. This book covers a variety of topics in economic theory, ranging from the analysis of production functions to the general recoverability problem of optimal dynamic behavior. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of the theory of observable behavior by analyzing the invariant relationships among economic variables. This text then examines the Lie group theory which provides one of the most efficient methods of studying invariance properties. Other chapters consider the analysis of exogenous technical change, a process partly due to dynamic market forces of supply and demand. This book discusses as well the topics closely related to parametric changes under Lie groups and related transformations. The final chapter deals with mathematical foundations of the theory of observable market behavior. This book is a valuable resource for economists.
The search for symmetry is part of the fundamental scientific paradigm in mathematics and physics. Can this be valid also for economics? This book represents an attempt to explore this possibility. The behavior of price-taking producers, monopolists, monopsonists, sectoral market equilibria, behavior under risk and uncertainty, and two-person zero- and non-zero-sum games are analyzed and discussed under the unifying structure called the linear complementarity problem. Furthermore, the equilibrium problem allows for the relaxation of often-stated but unnecessary assumptions. This unifying approach offers the advantage of a better understanding of the structure of economic models. It also introduces the simplest and most elegant algorithm for solving a wide class of problems.
Modem geometric methods combine the intuitiveness of spatial visualization with the rigor of analytical derivation. Classical analysis is shown to provide a foundation for the study of geometry while geometrical ideas lead to analytical concepts of intrinsic beauty. Arching over many subdisciplines of mathematics and branching out in applications to every quantitative science, these methods are, notes the Russian mathematician A.T. Fomenko, in tune with the Renais sance traditions. Economists and finance theorists are already familiar with some aspects of this synthetic tradition. Bifurcation and catastrophe theo ries have been used to analyze the instability of economic models. Differential topology provided useful techniques for deriving results in general equilibrium analysis. But they are less aware of the central role that Felix Klein and Sophus Lie gave to group theory in the study of geometrical systems. Lie went on to show that the special methods used in solving differential equations can be classified through the study of the invariance of these equations under a continuous group of transformations. Mathematicians and physicists later recognized the relation between Lie's work on differential equations and symme try and, combining the visions of Hamilton, Lie, Klein and Noether, embarked on a research program whose vitality is attested by the innumerable books and articles written by them as well as by biolo gists, chemists and philosophers.
Is development sustainable? When addressing the sustainability issue, decision-makers are faced with two challenges: taking into account conflicting issues, such as economic development and environmental preservation, while also ensuring intergenerational equity. Tackling these challenges amounts to deciding what should be bequeathed to future generations, especially in terms of natural resources.
This is the first comprehensive treatment of the three basic symmetries of probability theory—contractability, exchangeability, and rotatability—defined as invariance in distribution under contractions, permutations, and rotations. Originating with the pioneering work of de Finetti from the 1930's, the theory has evolved into a unique body of deep, beautiful, and often surprising results, comprising the basic representations and invariance properties in one and several dimensions, and exhibiting some unexpected links between the various symmetries as well as to many other areas of modern probability. Most chapters require only some basic, graduate level probability theory, and should be accessible to any serious researchers and graduate students in probability and statistics. Parts of the book may also be of interest to pure and applied mathematicians in other areas. The exposition is formally self-contained, with detailed references provided for any deeper facts from real analysis or probability used in the book. Olav Kallenberg received his Ph.D. in 1972 from Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden. After teaching for many years at Swedish universities, he moved in 1985 to the US, where he is currently Professor of Mathematics at Auburn University. He is well known for his previous books Random Measures (4th edition, 1986) and Foundations of Modern Probability (2nd edition, 2002) and for numerous research papers in all areas of probability. In 1977, he was the second recipient ever of the prestigious Rollo Davidson Prize from Cambridge University. In 1991–94, he served as the Editor in Chief of Probability Theory and Related Fields. Professor Kallenberg is an elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
Cosmic evolution leads from symmetry to complexity by symmetry breaking and phase transitions. The emergence of new order and structure in nature and society is explained by physical, chemical, biological, social and economic self-organization, according to the laws of nonlinear dynamics. All these dynamical systems are considered computational systems processing information and entropy. Are symmetry and complexity only useful models of science or are they universals of reality? Symmetry and Complexity discusses the fascinating insights gained from natural, social and computer sciences, philosophy and the arts. With many diagrams and pictures, this book illustrates the spirit and beauty of nonlinear science. In the complex world of globalization, it strongly argues for unity in diversity.
The revelatory story of an intellectual giant who made foundational contributions to science and mathematics and persevered in the face of discrimination against women in science. Emmy Noether is one of the most important figures in the history of science and mathematics. Noether’s mathematical genius enabled Einstein to bring his General Theory of Relativity, the basis of our current theory of gravity, to fruition. On a larger scale, what came to be known as “Noether’s Theorem”—called by a Nobel laureate “the single most profound result in all of physics”—supplied the basis for the most accurate theory in the history of physics, the Standard Model, which forms our modern theory of matter. Noether’s Theorem is also the tool physicists use to guide them towards the holy grail of a unified theory and is the secret weapon wielded by researchers at the cutting edge of fields as diverse as robotics, quantum computing, economics, and biology. Noether’s life story is equally important and revelatory in understanding the pernicious nature of sexual prejudice in the sciences, revealing the shocking discrimination against one of the true intellectual giants of the twentieth century, a woman effectively excluded from the institutions, perquisites, and fame given male counterparts in the world of science. Noether’s personality and optimistic, generous spirit, as Lee Phillips reveals, enabled her unique genius to persevere and arrive at insights that still astonish those who encounter them a century later.
