Butterfly economics
Subtitle: a new general theory of social and economic behavior
By: Paul Ormerod.
Edition: 1st American ed.
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 217
Subjects: Economic policy; Economics -- Sociological aspects
Description: "Why did VHS, an inferior video recorder technology, succeed in the marketplace, driving the superior Betamax out of business? Why do big-budget, acclaimed movies sometimes flop at the box office, while low-budget, idiosyncratic films become huge hits? The answers to these questions, says Paul Ormerod, remind us that economics is a science based on the workings of human society, as unpredictable an entity as there is." "In this analysis of why human beings persist in engaging in behavior that defies time-honored economic theory, Ormerod also explains why governments and industries throughout the world must completely reconfigure their traditional methods of economic forecasting if they are to succeed and prosper in an increasingly complicated global marketplace."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-203) and index.