Uncertainty and Human Action. An Economic Perspective

Through globalization, the world economic system acquires properties and features that its component parts or subsystems had not previously; as the economic, social and political interdependencies amplify it occurs an aggregation of national markets into a single unit, which causes an increase of degree of complexity and thus of uncertainty and risks. The heterogeneity of economic system components (individuals, organizations) is a reality and the economists have to determine variables which describe the dynamics of their action. Under uncertainty, total knowledge of future business processes is impossible to imagine. On the methodological level, beyond rational - irrational disputes, mainstream and heterodox theories converge towards action orientation to the future, which is the point of tangency with the recent theory of complexity. The proponents of both groups agree that in formulating predictions, modeling behaviors, monetary policy and income distribution, the critical factor that dominates and influences decisions is the uncertainty.