Econophysics: An Introduction

Filling the gap for an up–to–date textbook in this relatively new interdisciplinary research field, this volume provides readers with a thorough and comprehensive introduction. Based on extensive physics teaching and research experience, it includes detailed analyses of the problems and highlights in special biographical boxes some of the most outstanding personalities and their contributions to both physics and economics. The whole is rounded off by several appendices containing important background material and worked examples. From the contents: Introduction The Random Walk Beyond the Simple Random Walk Understanding Interactions through Cross–Correlations Why care about a Power Law? The Log–Normal Distribution When a Single Distribution is not Enough Explaining Complex Distributions with Simple Models But Individuals are not Gas Molecules... ...and Individuals don?t Interact Randomly: Complex Networks Outlook and Concluding Thoughts Appendices: Thermodynamics and Free Particle Statistics Interacting Systems: Mean Field Models, Fluctuations and Scaling Theories Renormalization Group Technique Spin Glasses and Optimization Problems: Annealing Nonequilibrium Phenomena