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Physics — and physicists — have had much to contribute to economic and finance. Now the science of complex networks sets a way forward to understanding and managing the complex financial networks of the world's markets.
The intrinsic complexity of the financial derivatives market has emerged as both an incentive to engage in it, and a key source of its inherent instability. Regulators now faced with the challenge of taming this beast may find inspiration in the budding science of complex systems.
Understanding something of the complexity of a financial network is one thing, influencing the behaviour of that system is another. But new tools from network science define a notion of 'controllability' that, coupled with 'centrality', could prove useful to economists and financial regulators.
Our developing scientific understanding of complex networks is being usefully applied in a wide set of financial systems. What we've learned from the 2008 crisis could be the basis of better management of the economy — and a means to avert future disaster.
