The Complexity Policy Narrative and the Future of Capitalism

The thesis of this paper is that economist's current policy narrative, which I call the state/market control policy narrative, is holding us back in our search for creative, imaginative, and workable policy solutions to our current problems. It is time to shift to a new complexity policy narrative that flows from recent work in complexity science. This new policy narrative redirects the policy debate and thinking toward more productive veins. The paper begins with a brief summary of the current and complexity policy narratives. Next I put the complexity policy narrative in historical perspective. Finally, I give an example of how the complexity policy narrative changes the modern policy debate.