Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 1: Tutorial: From spin models to macroeconomics (joint tutorial SOE/ DY/ jDPG)

DY 1.3: Tutorial

Sunday, March 15, 2015, 17:40–18:30, H 0104

You are a young and aspiring physicist. Is working at the interface with economics a good idea? — •Tobias Galla — Theoretical Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

The terms econophysics and sociophysics describe research in which physicists apply their ideas and methods to problems in economics and the social sciences. What do you have to know about the field to find your own answer to the question in the title? Well, one way is to talk to as many `older' physicists as possible who have worked in this area, and then to form your own opinion. In this tutorial I will give you my personal assessment of what physicists can contribute to the field of economics, and comment on why they cannot contribute as easily as it may seem. We will discuss the main achievements of physicists, for example the detection of non-Gaussian features and long-range correlations in financial data, theories of market impact, non-equilibrium ideas and bottom-up models of game theory, decision making and market microstructure. At the same time you will hear about the things physicists have not achieved (despite occasional claims to the contrary). I will then present some of our own work on chaotic dynamics in the learning of complicated games and discuss the potential consequences this has for agent-based market models, and the limitations of our work. In the final part of the tutorial I will comment on the potential hurdles young physicists moving into this area might want to be aware of, and I will highlight the potentials and benefits of working in this field.