30th Annual Student Research Conference
Engineering Crises: the Role of Uncertainty, Ignorance, and Complexity in the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008
Elias J. Garcia
Dr. David Gillette, Faculty Mentor
In this paper I will address the problems of uncertainty, ignorance, and complexity and their roles in the financial crisis and the failure of orthodox economics to account for these key factors in economic phenomena. Excluding the introduction, this paper consists of three main sections. The first introduces the topics of uncertainty, ignorance, and complexity historically within economics. The following section will attempt to quickly summarize the forces behind the financial crisis, and the roles of uncertainty, ignorance, and complexity, in addition to contending a few popular recollections of the crisis. The last section concludes the paper with some final remarks in regards to future regulation and the path forward for the economic profession.
Keywords: regulation, banking, financial crisis, uncertainty, risk, complexity, great recession
Topic(s):Economics
Political Science
Accounting
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 109-2
Location: VH 1320
Time: 8:15