Econo-sociophysics (Study Program of Physics) (3 months)

BACKGROUND

Economics deals with human activities, such as production, distribution and consumption of wealth. However mainstream economic theory has been driven by general physical concepts, like equilibrium, with the aim of providing scientific basis for its forecasts. Furthermore, economic data stem from the interaction of a large number of agents and therefore call for the tools and ideas of statistical physics. In this course, some basic economic and financial concepts will be first financial instruments, options and stock price model, agent-based models of stock price formation, minority game and correlations between stock prices. For such applications to be successful knowledge of physics alone no longer suffices. Instead, interdisciplinary approaches combining physics and the social sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, and economics) are the network structure of the society and opinion dynamics. For one, understanding of human perception, experience, motivation and decision making, as provided by Similarly, ethical issues associated with crowd monitoring, and with the possibility to influence individuals’ behavior need to be carefully considered and addressed before real-world implementations can be successful and admissible.

OBJECTIVES

Understanding what types of scientific problems the field of Econophysics and Sociophysics deals with; – understanding the evolution of the research questions in the field; – acquiring a sufficient knowledge of statiscs Physics to be applicable to Econophysics and Sociophysics problems;  acquiring a scientific perspective giving priority to reconciling models with empirical data, rather than opting for mathematical tractability.

ACTIVITIES

1.             Class activities

2.             Field activities (site visit and field workshop)

SUBJECTS

1.             Financial instrument

2.             Option and stock price model

3.             Agent based of stock price formation

4.             Minority game

5.             Correlations between stock prices

6.             The network structure of the society

7.             Opinion dynamic