Macro and Micro and the Fractal
Updated 29th Nov 2012
There are many insights - in relation to macro/micro - that can be taken from the fractal.
Firstly, and importantly, when viewing a fractal (in isolation) scale cannot be discerned, the object maybe any size at all, from infinity small to infinitly large; the object shares the fractal charactoristic of being 'same' but 'different' at every scale. The object's shape can be discerned, and from this, an attempt can be made to deduce an understanding of the process to produce it.
The object is the 'same'; the examples are infinitely 'different'.
Examples: income, wealth, trade, selection, reproduction, specialisation and so on.
We see the same but different - at all scales. These principles repeat throughout the universe and are central to biology, chemistry, and physics.
This observation sheds light on whether there is a distinction between micro and macro: the fractal shows us that there may be no real separation between the micro and the macro—they may be one and the same. This is not to say shapes repeat exactly; it is to say rules repeat, principles repeat. The rule is universal, and it will be in the micro, the small, and the macro, the large.
If there appears to be a separation, it may be a matter of perspective or a matter of point of observation. The fractal does demonstrate relativity.
Macro micro: supply and demand
Fractality is evident in the supply and demand diagrams we draw.
From a distance, they look the same without looking at the labels and such. Downward sloping demand (and both for many reasons), and upward sloping supply; price and output on the axis.
The fractal demonstrates emergence behaviour: one-to-many relationships -as shown above in the Koch curve development (or Growth). From one triangle to an infinity of them, and in so doing, creating a new shape. The new shape in the context of economics is the economy itself, or what we term it - the ecosystem ..eg.
There are many insights - in relation to macro/micro - that can be taken from the fractal.
Firstly, and importantly, when viewing a fractal (in isolation) scale cannot be discerned, the object maybe any size at all, from infinity small to infinitly large; the object shares the fractal charactoristic of being 'same' but 'different' at every scale. The object's shape can be discerned, and from this, an attempt can be made to deduce an understanding of the process to produce it.
The object is the 'same'; the examples are infinitely 'different'.
Examples: income, wealth, trade, selection, reproduction, specialisation and so on.
We see the same but different - at all scales. These principles repeat throughout the universe and are central to biology, chemistry, and physics.
This observation sheds light on whether there is a distinction between micro and macro: the fractal shows us that there may be no real separation between the micro and the macro—they may be one and the same. This is not to say shapes repeat exactly; it is to say rules repeat, principles repeat. The rule is universal, and it will be in the micro, the small, and the macro, the large.
If there appears to be a separation, it may be a matter of perspective or a matter of point of observation. The fractal does demonstrate relativity.
Macro micro: supply and demand
Fractality is evident in the supply and demand diagrams we draw.
From a distance, they look the same without looking at the labels and such. Downward sloping demand (and both for many reasons), and upward sloping supply; price and output on the axis.
The fractal demonstrates emergence behaviour: one-to-many relationships -as shown above in the Koch curve development (or Growth). From one triangle to an infinity of them, and in so doing, creating a new shape. The new shape in the context of economics is the economy itself, or what we term it - the ecosystem ..eg.
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