On Wed, 31 Dec 2014 06:42:42 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Mike Spencer" wrote in message
...

Ed Huntress writes:

On 30 Dec 2014 19:14:05 -0400, Mike Spencer
wrote:

Ed Huntress writes:

Now he has to spend the rest of the day running his
latest predictive econometric model on his company's
cloud-networked
SPSS system. He has a master's degree in math and a degree in
economics, and does econometric research and analysis for a top
consulting firm.

Ask him what relevance, if any, Stuart Kauffman's Origins of Order
might have to to his research and analyses. And report back here
with his answer.

His reaction: "Stuart who?" g

He doesn't know about Kauffman.

Dang. Well, no shame in that. Kauffman isn't an economist. :-)

Just ask him if complexity catastrophe or complexity theory or
anything along those lines enters into his econometric models.

I'm no math wizard but it strikes me much of the apparently baffling
impenetrability of economics and finance derives from the fact
(alleged, by me :-) that we've reached a level of complexity that
defeats statistics or model that don't account for it. And part of
the problem is that "models" probably *can't* account for it.

How can the models account for the actions of financiers who are
smarter than the model makers?

http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd665.htm speaks of new banking
laws which allow global banks to invest in derivatives, just like
those we saw in 2008/9. Fun, wot?

"It's Official: "The Worldwide Bail-ins Are Coming. "On November 16,
leaders of the G20 Group of Nations – the 20 largest economies – made
an important decision. The world's megabanks now have official
permission to pledge depositor accounts as collateral to make
leveraged derivative bets. And if they lose a bet, the counterparty to
the contract has first dibs on your money."

The next big thing will be to allow banks to invest in gambling in
Vegas, I suppose. "Perfectly safe." they say...

--
Poverty is easy. It's Charity and Chastity that are hard.
--anon