New Paradigm of Economic Thinking Under Uncertainty

Donald N. McCloskey

Hung T. Nguyen

Emmanuel E. Haven, Sandro Sozzo

Thomas Holtfort, Andreas Horsch

In the 21st century, various socio-economic crises have revealed that traditional economic science and (neo)classical thinking are unable to explain all the complexity of current economic problems, therefore the application of more complex and non-trivial economic concepts is gaining relevance. In addition to behavioral and evolutionary economic thinking, models of quantum economics have been developed in recent years, which allow solving economic problems, using mainly quantum thinking and the principles of quantum physics, in particular particle-wave dualism, the principle of uncertainty, the absence of a subject-object distinction, superposition and confusion. The article addresses 3 research questions (RQ). According to RQ1, the paper finds that quantum economics research is dominated by the following topics: quantum economics, quantum finance, quantum decision making, and quantum game theory. According to these four thematic descriptors, the article carries out a systematic modern review of scientific works in the period from 1978 to 2022 (if only 50 works were published in 1978-1999, then in 2000-2022 already 3430), with an emphasis on the most cited (Google Scholar) English-language journal articles. The analysis showed that articles on this topic are published mainly in journals of a non-economic profile, that the peaks of publication activity occur at times of powerful socio-economic upheavals (for example, the dot.com bubble, the substandard/financial crisis, the European debt crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, etc.). In accordance with RQ2, the article defines the key characteristics of the quantum economic model: in contrast to neoclassical economics (based on mechanistic classical physics, is rational and deterministic, with the help of the invisible hand of the market it leads to a stable equilibrium), the quantum approach, on the contrary, considers the economy as more complex, empirically oriented, uncertain, probabilistic, superpositional, as an archetypal example of a quantum social system that has its own versions of duality, measurement, and entanglement. According to RQ 3, the article determines to what extent quantum economics can update (neo)classical economics (integration of new ontological premises into economic thinking, more experimental and practical approach, connection between the concept of entanglement and sustainable development, management of financial risks based on the concept of quantum probability, rethinking the concept of randomness by quantum probability, introduction of quantum money, equilibrium using quantum games, etc.).