Approaching physics as the way to predict the results of experiments is good enough for physics as it is. However the transition of its notions and mathematical apparatus to systems of different nature requires obligatory in-depth analysis of its initial concepts. Econophysics is a young interdisciplinary scientific field, which developed and acquired its name at the end of the last century. Quantum econophysics, a direction distinguished by the use of mathematical apparatus of quantum mechanics as well as its fundamental conceptual ideas and relativistic aspects, developed within its boundaries just a couple of years later, in the first decade of the 21-st century. In this paper from quantum econophysics positions, attained by moderntheoretical physics in understanding of the universe bases, the methodological and philosophicalanalysis of fundamental physical concepts and their formal and informal connections with thereal economic measurings is carried out. The possibility of introducing economic equivalents ofphysical quantities in order to describe socio-economic processes using the quantum uncertaintyprinciple is shown. Procedures for heterogeneous economic time determination, normalizedeconomic coordinates and economic mass are offered, based on the analysis of time series, theconcept of economic Plank's constant is proposed. A theory is approved on the real economicdynamic's time series, including crises stock market indices. It is shown that the effective mass ofthe time series universally decreases before the crisis period, which may be an indicator of thecrisis phenomena.
Approaching physics as the way to predict the results of experiments is good enough for physics as it is. However the transition of its notions and mathematical apparatus to systems of different nature requires obligatory in-depth analysis of its initial concepts. Econophysics is a young interdisciplinary scientific field, which developed and acquired its name at the end of the last century. Quantum econophysics, a direction distinguished by the use of mathematical apparatus of quantum mechanics as well as its fundamental conceptual ideas and relativistic aspects, developed within its boundaries just a couple of years later, in the first decade of the 21-st century. In this paper from quantum econophysics positions, attained by moderntheoretical physics in understanding of the universe bases, the methodological and philosophicalanalysis of fundamental physical concepts and their formal and informal connections with thereal economic measurings is carried out. The possibility of introducing economic equivalents ofphysical quantities in order to describe socio-economic processes using the quantum uncertaintyprinciple is shown. Procedures for heterogeneous economic time determination, normalizedeconomic coordinates and economic mass are offered, based on the analysis of time series, theconcept of economic Plank's constant is proposed. A theory is approved on the real economicdynamic's time series, including crises stock market indices. It is shown that the effective mass ofthe time series universally decreases before the crisis period, which may be an indicator of thecrisis phenomena.
From positions, attained by modern theoretical physics in understanding of the universe bases, the methodological and philosophical analysis of fundamental physical concepts and their formal and informal connections with the real economic measurings is carried out. Procedures for heterogeneous economic time determination, normalized economic coordinates and economic mass are offered, based on the analysis of time series, the concept of economic Plank's constant has been proposed. The theory has been approved on the real economic dynamic's time series, including stock indices, Forex and spot prices, the achieved results are open for discussion.
Abstract Since Adam Smith, economics has erected a grand edifice upon the foundations of rational agents, equilibrium analysis, and linear causality; however, the 2008 global financial crisis, the European sovereign debt crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic have successively revealed its fundamental limitations when confronted with complex economic phenomena: bubbles that ought not to have existed, crises unforeseen by equilibrium models, non-linear ruptures brought about by technological revolutions, and self-fulfilling expectations—all of which call for a richer theoretical language. This book serves as the foundational introduction to the "Quantum Economics Textbook Series," as well as the first gateway into this entire series. It introduces the methodological framework, mathematical apparatus, and philosophical insights of quantum mechanics to economic analysis, grounding its approach in the core proposition of a practical ontology—that human economic practice itself possesses quantum attributes such as superposition, entanglement, constructibility, uncertainty, and emergence—thereby reconstructing the economic world as a quantum process of superposition and evolution. Six core concepts—superposition, entanglement, measurement collapse, the uncertainty principle, quantum transitions, and emergence—run throughout the work. Quantum economics does not represent a simple negation of classical theory; rather, it constitutes a dialectical sublation: under the classical limit—where decoherence is complete, the measurement basis is fixed, and entanglement vanishes—quantum theory precisely reduces to classical theory. This book comprises five parts and thirty chapters: Part I establishes the paradigm shift and theoretical framework, covering critiques of Newton's worldview, the quantum worldview, a foundational conceptual framework, mathematical foundations, and research methodologies; Part II reconstructs quantum microeconomic theory, encompassing consumers, producers, pricing, markets, the wave-particle duality of markets, quantum games, and welfare economics; Part III builds quantum macroeconomic theory, addressing national income accounting, money, inflation, economic cycles, policy, and open economies; Part IV explores quantum finance and market dynamics, including asset pricing, portfolio management, market sentiment, risk management, and trading theory; Part V extends the scope to organizations, innovation, institutions, development, economic ethics, and the digital economy, while offering insights into the future of this discipline. This volume is intended for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers in economics and related fields, and serves as the essential first volume in the quantum economics series.
Econophysics is a branch of economics that applies concepts and methods from physics to the financial markets. This article focuses on the approaches to quantum finance developed by Kirill Ilinski and Belal E. Baaquie to deal with the uncertainty characterizing financial time series. Allegedly, their models rest on a formal analogy between quantum mechanics and finance. In order to evaluate them, we raise the question what is really quantum in quantum econophysics. We then argue that the supposed analogy breaks in an important manner, which is relevant to explain the empirical success of the proposed models.
Classical and Quantum Physics in Selected Economic Models A growing number of economic phenomena are nowadays described with methods known in physics. The most frequently applied physical theories by economists are: (1) the universal gravitation law and (2) the first and second law of thermodynamics. Physical principles can also be applied to the theory of financial markets. Financial markets are composed of individual participants who may be seen to interact as particles in a physical system. This approach proposes a financial market model known as a minority game model in which securities and money are allocated on the basis of price fluctuations, and where selling is best option when the vast majority of investors tend to purchase goods or services, and vice versa. The players who end up being on the minority side win. The above applications of physical methods in economics are deeply rooted in classical physics. However, this paper aims to introduce the basic concepts of quantum mechanics to the process of economic phenomena modelling. Quantum mechanics is a theory describing the behaviour of microscopic objects and is grounded on the principle of wave-particle duality. It is assumed that quantum-scale objects at the same time exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties. The key role in quantum mechanics is played by: (1) the Schrödinger equation describing the probability amplitude for the particle to be found in a given position and at a given time, and as (2) the Heisenberg uncertainty principle stating that certain pairs of physical properties cannot be economic applications of the Schrödinger equation as well as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. We also try to describe the English auction by means the quantum mechanics methods.
The origin of the idea of rationality as a fundamental model of human behaviour (the concept of homo oeconomicus) that was introduced during the neoclassical revolution in economics and that implied the mathematization of economics thereby adopting the mathematical scheme of and borrowing some fundamental conception from classical mechanics, as well as the crisis of this rationality model that followed in the latest decades are here discussed. The origin of the least action principle in 18th century is first described. The least action principle was the basis that lead to the development of Lagrangean dynamics in classical mechanics that, on its turn, entered economics in 19th century as a fundamental method to describe the behaviour of a postulated rational agent and was the basis for the development of mainstream economics in 20th century. The epistemologically unjustified transfer of concepts from mechanics, in particular in Walras? work, is stressed. In the second half of 20th century experimental psychology slowly entered economics and several paradoxes in the real agents? choices were shown giving strong evidence of rationality?s axioms violation in the real behaviour of people. By mid-20th century, quantum mechanics had already developed a highly effective mathematical apparatus to describe the wave-particle behaviour of quantum objects and in particular the phenomenon of probability interference that is clearly shown in the double-slit experiment with single electrons, as well as with photons. Probability interference is peculiar to quantum mechanics and is extraneous to the Kolmogorov axiomatic theory of classical probability. The recent idea of applying the quantum mechanics concepts and formalism, including quantum probability interference and superposition of states, to the description of mental processes is discussed. The aim of this new field of research, which is developing along the lines of the centuries-old question of the mind-body relation, is to create a general framework where cognition might be modeled. Quantum cognition is therefore introduced as a possible answer to the rationality violation paradoxes shown by experiments on ambiguous figures recognition and on the effects brought about by conjunction and disjunction of concepts.
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.).