Praise for Quantum Economics ‘The word quantum means “how much” Orrell proposes that money is literally a quantum phenomenon that entangles us in relationships not dissimilar to the particle entanglements of the subatomic domain Here credit and debit constitute a wave–particle-like duality enmeshing us all in a quantum-weave Beautifully written, inherently ethical, and often hilarious, this book is a mustread for anyone wanting to understand the weird, and getting weirder, world of modern finance.’ Margaret Wertheim, author of Pythagoras’ Trousers and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace ‘As money becomes more digital and diffuse, it also becomes more quantum In this timely and illuminating book, David Orrell brings us to the frontier of where economics, physics and psychology intersect You’ll never look at money the same again!’ Dr Parag Khanna, author of Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization ‘Reading David Orrell’s Quantum Economics is equivalent to playing a game of 3-D chess against the concept of value itself The book easily switches between physical, economic and metaphysical conceptions of value, revealing their hidden parallels and paradoxes The result is at once an explanation of our current economic predicament, a diagnosis of how we got there and a credible guide to the sort of “out of the box” thinking that is likely to get us out of it After you’ve forgotten about the latest wheeze about the financial crisis, you’ll be returning to this book.’ Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, and author of Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game ‘Rich with suggestive insights on every page and written in an accessible style, this book will both engage and infuriate its audience For those of us who feel trapped in the professional cocoons of the like-minded, this book offers a chance to escape from the iron cages we have built.’ Peter J Katzenstein, Walter S Carpenter, Jr Professor of International Studies, Cornell University ‘Forty years ago, I wrote a paper noting in analogy to quantum physics, the order of determining the price and demand for a commodity would change the quantities determined It is delightful to see a book devoted to exploring another analogy to quantum physics for economics, that money exists in a dual way Orrell has explained his ideas in a very lively style, providing the history and a basic explanation of the physics; and goes on to explore the various consequences of this dual nature, which neoclassical economics did not foresee The book should be read, not only by economists but also by all decision-makers.’ Asghar Qadir, Professor of Physics, National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan ‘On the cusp of an earlier revolution, Karl Marx said all that is solid melts into air and all that is holy is profaned Constructing a less mechanistic and even more revolutionary science of quantum economics, David Orrell proves it so Orrell does not dabble in metaphor or metaphysics: he intellectually, persuasively and corrosively transmutates money into a quantum phenomenon In the process, classical economics is profaned to good effect and a quantum future glimmers as a real possibility.’ James Der Derian, Chair of International Security Studies, University of Sydney Praise for Economyths ‘A fascinating, funny and wonderfully readable take down of mainstream economics Read it.’ Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics ‘This is without doubt the best book I’ve read this year, and probably one of the most important books I’ve ever read … Orrell exposes the rotten heart of economics … [S]hould be required reading for every politician and banker No, make that every voter in the land This ought to be a real game changer of a book Read it.’ Brian Clegg, www.popularscience.co.uk ‘Lists 10 crucial assumptions (the economy is simple, fair, stable, etc.) and argues both entertainingly and convincingly that each one is totally at odds with reality Orrell also suggests that adopting the science of complex systems would radically improve economic policymaking.’ William White, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada (Bloomberg Best Books of 2013) ‘His background allows Orrell to reliably and convincingly question the claim of economics to quasi-scientific objectivity and mathematical accuracy, and expose it as a sales ploy.’ Handelsblatt (Germany) ‘Consistently interesting and enjoyable reading … A wide audience including many noneconomists could benefit from reading it.’ International Journal of Social Economics ‘His ten economic myths should be committed to memory.’ Monthly Review (US) ‘[Orrell’s] tone is engagingly curious, drawing on biology and psychology, and his historical view spans more than merely the past few decades Orrell recommends an interdisciplinary approach to a “new economics”, in which ethics and complexity theory might have a say.’ The Guardian (UK) ‘Required reading for anyone who deals with the economy.’ Obserwator Finansowy (Poland) ‘I urge you all to read [this book]’ New Straits Times (Malaysia) ‘A book that can help you appreciate economics in action, and also help make it less of a voodoo science.’ Business Line (India) ‘A book full of intellectual stimulation.’ Toyo Keizai (Japan) ‘One of the best books I’ve read this year.’ Pressian (Korea) ‘Highly readable and a great introduction to the dynamic thinking used in many natural sciences.’ The Post-Crash Economics Society (UK) ‘Read this book!’ Indonesian Society for Social Transformation ‘Terrible, willfully ignorant, deeply anti-intellectual … there is nothing an interested layman could possibly learn from this book.’ Professor of economics, University of Victoria ‘Just random – sort of like Malcolm Gladwell without the insight.’ Professor of economics, Carleton University ‘Must be good as I’ve had hate mails from economists for writing a positive review of it.’ Brian Clegg Praise for Truth or Beauty ‘Fascinating … Orrell is an engaging and witty writer, adept at explaining often complicated theories in clear language.’ Ian Critchley, Sunday Times Praise for The Money Formula (with Paul Wilmott) ‘This book has humor, attitude, clarity, science and common sense; it pulls no punches and takes no prisoners.’ Nassim Nicholas Taleb Praise for The Evolution of Money (with Roman Chlupatý) ‘Perhaps the best book on money I have ever read … A reasonable and benign dictator might demand that those engaged in activities relating to economic management should, as a condition of employment, be compelled to read The Evolution of Money and pass a written examination based on an understanding of its contents.’ Colin Teese, former deputy secretary of the Department of Trade, News Weekly (Australia) Praise for Soumrak homo economicus (The Twilight of Economic Man, with Tomáš Sedláček and Roman Chlupatý) ‘The reader has the sense of being a silent guest at a smart table talk in which earth-shattering things are discussed.’ Die Welt (Germany) Quantum Economics The New Science of Money David Orrell For James, Vera, and Lenny CONTENTS Title Page Dedication Introduction Part Quantum Money Chapter 1: The quantum world Chapter 2: How much Chapter 3: Quantum creations Chapter 4: The money veil Chapter 5: The money bomb Part The Quantum Economy Chapter 6: The uncertainty principle Chapter 7: Quantum games Chapter 8: Entangled clouds Chapter 9: Measuring the economy Chapter 10: We-conomics Appendix Acknowledgements Index About the Author Copyright INTRODUCTION You never change things by fighting the existing reality To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete R Buckminster Fuller If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d, Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss The second burthen of a former child! Shakespeare, Sonnet 59 What is economics? How about this for an exciting definition: economics is the study of transactions involving money Obvious, right? Economists talk about money all the time Everything gets expressed in terms of dollars or euros, yen or yuan The health of a nation is reduced to how much they produce, as measured by Gross Domestic Product; a person’s value to society is expressed by how much they earn Economics is about money, everyone knows that And yet – if you look at an economics textbook, it turns out that the field is defined a little differently Most follow the English economist Lionel Robbins, who wrote in 1932 that ‘Economics is a science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.’1 Gregory Mankiw’s widely-used Principles of Economics for example states that ‘Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources.’2 Or as it is sometimes paraphrased, economics is the science of scarcity No mention of money at all And if you read a little further in those same textbooks, you will find that economists not talk about money all the time – in fact they steer clear of it Money is used as a metric, but – apart perhaps from chapters to with basic monetary plumbing – is not considered an important subject in itself The textbooks are like physics books that use time throughout in equations but never pause to talk about what time is And both money and the role of the financial sector are usually completely missing from economic models, or paid lip service to Economists, it seems, think about money less than most people do: as the former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King observed, ‘Most economists hold conversations in which the word “money” hardly appears at all.’3 Believe it or not, defining economics in terms of money transactions is a rather radical statement For one thing, it leads to the related question: what is money? In this case, the accepted answer is to quote Paul Samuelson’s ‘bible’ textbook Economics and say that money is ‘anything that serves as a commonly accepted medium of exchange’ (his emphasis).4 This certainly seems to be a good description of how we use money in the economy But again, it doesn’t give us a sense of how money attains this special status as a medium of exchange; and it implies that money’s only importance is to act as a passive intermediary for trade The economy can therefore be viewed as a giant barter system, in which money is nothing more than a veil, a distraction from what really counts The exciting and sometimes disturbing properties of money, which have fascinated and intrigued its users over millennia, have been largely written out of the story This book argues that the textbook definitions – and the economics establishment in general – have it the wrong way round It makes the case for a new kind of economics, which puts money – and the question how much – at its centre The time has come to talk about money – and the implications of this simple adjustment promise to be as significant in economics as the quantum revolution was in physics Talking about a revolution People have of course been calling for a revolution in economics for a rather long time – and especially since the financial crisis of 2007–08 In 2008 the physicist and hedge fund manager Jean-Philippe Bouchaud wrote a paper in the journal Nature with the title ‘Economics needs a scientific revolution’.5 In 2014 Ha-Joon Chang and Jonathan Aldred of Cambridge University called for a ‘revolution in the way we teach economics’.6 A number of student groups around the world agreed, releasing their own manifestos demanding a more pluralistic approach from their professors In 2017 the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council let it be known that it was setting up a network of experts from different disciplines including ‘psychology, anthropology, sociology, neuroscience, economic history, political science, biology and physics’, whose task it would be to ‘revolutionise’ the field of economics And there have been countless books on the topic, including my own Economyths which called in its final chapter for just such an intervention by non-economists, when it first came out in 2010.8 The reasons for this spirit of revolutionary zeal are clear enough For the past 150 years mainstream (aka neoclassical) economics has clung to a number of assumptions that are completely at odds with reality – for example, the cute idea that the economy is a self-stabilising machine that maximises utility (i.e usefulness; the wheels fell off that one a while ago) It fails even in terms of its own scarcity-based definition: with social inequality and environmental degradation at a peak, mainstream economics doesn’t seem up to the task of addressing questions such as how to fairly allocate resources or deal with natural limits While there have been many calls for a revolution, though, the exact nature of that revolution is less clear Critics agree that the foundations of economics are rotten, but there are different views on what should be built in its place Most think that the field needs more diversity and should be more pluralistic (though as revolutionary demands go this one seems a bit diffuse) Most also agree that the emphasis on economic growth for its own sake needs to be reconciled both with environmental constraints and with fair distribution Many have pointed out that economic models should incorporate techniques from other areas such as complexity theory, and properly account for the role of the financial sector And the idea of rational economic man – which forms the core of traditional models – should be replaced with something a little more realistic But what if the problems with economics run even deeper? What if the traditional approach has hit a wall, and the field needs to be completely reinvented? What if the problem comes down to our entire way of thinking and talking about the economy? This book argues that we need to start over from the beginning, by considering the most basic feature of the economy, which is transactions involving money Rather than treat money as a mere metric, or as an inert medium of exchange, we will show that money has special, contradictory, indeed magical properties which feed into the economy as a whole We can no more ignore these properties than weather forecasters can ignore the properties of water when making their foreign direct investment (FDI) forms, theory of Fowler, James fractional reserve banking 1, 2, dangers 1, France Fränkel, Lorenzo Franklin, Benjamin Franzen, Jonathan free market optimality free trade agreements frequency friction Friedman, Milton 1, 2, 3, 4, fruit full-reserve banking G Gaia theory Galileo Galilei game theory 1, 2, Gautier, Pieter 1, 2, 3, GDP 1, Gell-Mann, Murray General Equilibrium models general public licence (GPL) genes Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) 1, Gertler, M Ghana gift economies 1, Gilchrist, S global finance global land grab gold standard 1, 2, Goldenfeld, Nigel goldsmiths Good, Evil versus 1, 2, Goodman, Andy Google effect Gore, Al government bailouts 1, Graeber, David Grand Banks Great Depression 1, Greece coins 1, debt Greenberger, Daniel Greenpeace Greenspan, Alan 1, 2, 3, 4, gross domestic product (GDP) 1, group behaviours Guth, Alan Guthrie, W.K.C H Haberly, Daniel Hahn, Otto Haldane, Andrew 1, 2, 3, Hamilton, Clive Hanley, Kevin Hannam, James happiness 1, 2, 3, utility and wealth and Hardin, Garrett Häring, Norbert 1, Hausmann, Ricardo Hayek, Friedrich health heart disease hedge funds Heims, Steve Heisenberg, Werner 1, 2, 3, 4, helium 1, Helmholtz, Hermann von Henry I, King Heraclitus 1, herd behaviour 1, Hiroshima Hoff, Karla holons 1, 2, 3, 4, Homo economicus (rational economic man) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, demise house purchase 1, housing bubble housing market 1, 2, Hoyle, Fred Hubbard, William Hudson, Michael 1, Human Genome Project Hume, David 1, Humphrey, Caroline hydrogen 1, hyperinflation I Iamblichus individuality 1, inequality 1, 2, 3, inflation 1, 2, 3, house price models of information as kind of energy thermodynamics and innovation intelligent design interest rate swaps interest rates, setting interference 1, 2, under uncertainty International Monetary Fund (IMF) 1, 2, intrinsic value 1, 2, invisible hand 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, invisible hand theorem Islamic finance Italy J Janus phenomenon Jenkin, Fleeming Jensen, Michael Jevons, William Stanley 1, 2, 3, Jobs, Steve Johnson, Boris Jordan, Pascual Juno Moneta Jupiter K Kadanoff, Leo P Kahneman, Daniel 1, 2, Kandinsky, Wassily Kapadia, Sujit Keen, Steve 1, 2, Keynes, John Maynard 1, 2, 3, kinetic energy King, Mervyn Knutson, Brian Kocherlakota, Narayana 1, Koestler, Arthur 1, 2, 3, Krugman, Paul 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Kublai Khan Kuznets, Simon L labour measuring 1, labour theory of value Laibson, David Laughlin, Robery 1, 2, Law, John Law’s System version II Leary, Timothy left, right versus 1, 2, 3, Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm 1, Lemos, Gabriela Barreto 1, lender of last resort Leontief, Wassily Levinovitz, Alan Jay Levitt, Stephen Lévy, Paul life, meaning and purpose in light colour darkness versus as particles 1, as waves 1, 2, 3, 4, lightbulbs limited unlimited versus 1, 2, limited liability living wage livre system Lloyd George, David Lo, Andrew loan agreements 1, 2, loan creation 1, 2, London School of Economics (LSE) Long-Term Capital Management Lorenz, Ed Los Alamos National Laboratory 1, 2, Louis XIV, King (France) Lovell, Jim Lovelock, James 1, Lucas, Robert 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Lydia M machine learning MacKenzie, Donald MacKinlay, A Craig Macpherson, Nick Majorama fermion male, female versus Manhattan Project 1, Mankiw, Gregory 1, 2, 3, Marco Polo market economy market equilibrium 1, market failures market makers market pricing markets development stable equilibrium 1, Marshall, Alfred 1, 2, Martin, Steve Marx, Karl 1, mass, conservation of mathematical finance mathematical models Maxwell, James Clerk 1, 2, 3, Maxwell’s demon McCartney, Paul McGilchrist, Iain 1, 2, 3, McKenna, Reginald McLuhan, Marshall 1, 2, measurement error in mechanics, economics and Medicis Menger, Carl mercantilism Mercer, Robert Mermin, David Merton, Robert C 1, Mesopotamia 1, 2, 3, 4, Messinger, Hans Metcalfe’s Law Michelson, Albert microfoundations Microsoft microtubules Milanovic, Branko Miletus Mill, John Stuart 1, Millikan, Robert Minsky, Hyman 1, 2, ‘Minsky’ model Minsky moment Mirowski, Philip Mississippi Company Mitchell-Innes, Alfred 1, modelling momentum (economics) 1, momentum (mechanics) conservation of position and momentum investors 1, money as communication medium definition derivation of word duality 1, 2, effects on mind entangled history invention as measurement device military association omission from models 1, preferred direction properties as source of stress state association transfer as veil 1, money creation 1, 2, 3, by banks 1, 2, as taboo topic money objects 1, 2, as ‘Signs of Transmission’ 1, single eigenvalue money supply, expansion Monod, Jacques Monte Carlo method 1, 2, 3, Monte Carlo project Moon mission 1, Morgan, J.P Morgan, Mary Morgenstern, Oskar mortgages motion, at rest versus in Mullainathan, Sendhil Munchau, Wolfgang mushrooms 1, musical harmony Musk, Elon Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) 1, N Nagasaki Nakamoto, Satoshi natural resources 1, nature, as probabilistic Nazism negative entropy negative externalities negative numbers neoclassical economics, definition neon ‘nervousness’ 1, network theory neuroeconomics neutrons 1, 2, Newton, Isaac 1, 2, Nicolaisen, Jon Nixon, Richard Nixon shock nonlinear dynamics 1, nuclear chain reaction nuclear reactors nuclear weapons 1, ‘Nudge Unit’ 1, nudging numbers 1, O objectivism 1, 2, 3, oblong, square versus odd, even versus OECD offshore tax havens one, plurality versus Oppenheimer, J Robert opposites, Pythagoreans’ list of 1, options price of 1, order effect 1, organic systems Orwell, George Ostrom, Elinor ovens Oxfam P Pan Gongsheng panpsychism paper money 1, Pareto, Vilfredo Pareto optimality 1, 2, 3, 4, particles economic agents as properties virtual Pauli, Wolfgang pawnbroker loan Pearson, Karl Pennsylvania Penrose, Roger 1, Peterson Institute for International Economics Pettifor, Ann pharmaceutical industry phonons 1, phosphorus photoelectric effect 1, photon spin photons 1, 2, 3, interference patterns polarisation 1, 2, virtual Piff, Paul Piketty, Thomas Planck, Max 1, 2, 3, Planck’s constant 1, planning paradox 1, plasma Plato pleasure energy plurality one versus unity versus polarisation 1, 2, pollution 1, 2, 3, Poloz, Stephen 1, Ponzi borrower Popescu, Sandu Portugal, debt position, momentum and Posner, Richard potential beings poverty 1, precious metals prediction science of preferences construction reversal varying price characteristics measurements 1, natural as uncertain pricing principle of complementarity 1, principle of correspondence 1, 2, prisoner’s dilemma prisoner’s entanglement profit maximisation Prospect proteins protons 1, proximity public–private split Pugwash Conferences Putnam, Robert Pythagoras 1, Pythagorean theorem Pythagoreans Q Q# Qadir, Asghar 1, 2, quanta 1, 2, quantitative easing quantitative finance 1, 2, quantity theory of money 1, 2, 3, ‘quants’ quantum agent-based models 1, quantum Bayesianism (QBism) quantum biology 1, quantum cognition 1, 2, 3, 4, criticism importance quantum computers 1, 2, 3, quantum corporation quantum cryptology quantum decoherence quantum emergent properties 1, 2, quantum erasure experiment delayed-choice quantum finance aim quantum interference quantum logic 1, 2, quantum macroeconomics approach quantum mechanics/physics 1, as foundation of all sciences quantum objectivism quantum revolution quantum social science 1, 2, 3, 4, quantum teleportation quantum theory of money and value quantum thermodynamics 1, qubits 1, 2, Quetelet, Adolphe R radioactivity 1, Rand, Ayn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, RAND Corporation 1, random shocks 1, 2, 3, Random Walk Hypothesis 1, random walks 1, 2, 3, 4, rational economic man see Homo economicus rational expectations, theory of 1, rational mechanics Raworth, Kate 1, real, virtual versus 1, real economy real wealth ‘Rebuilding Macroeconomic Theory Project’ 1, recency bias 1, recessions, approach to 1, reductionism relationships 1, relativity theory 1, Rendahl, Pontus 1, rest, in motion versus at Rethinking Economics Ricardo, David 1, 2, Ridley, Matt right, left versus 1, 2, 3, risk 1, Robbins, Lionel 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Rodrik, Dani 1, Rome Römer, Hartmann Romer, Paul 1, 2, Rosnick, David Rotblat, Joseph Roubini, Nouriel Rowell, Galen Russell, Bertrand 1, Rutherford, Ernest Ryan, Paul S sakk Samuelson, Paul Bachelier thesis discovery on economics textbooks on invisible hand on Keynesianism on physics and economics 1, on Ricardo theory on trade on uncertainty Sandel, Michael Sargent, Tom Say, Jean-Baptiste 1, scarcity 1, Schaffer, Kathryn 1, Scholes, Myron 1, 2, Schrödinger, Erwin 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, thought experiment (cat) 1, Schumacher, Reinhard Schumpeter, Joseph 1, seigniorage 1, 2, self-interest 1, selfish gene 1, 2, selfishness Sewell, Martin Shakespeare, William shared commons 1, 2, shekels 1, 2, Shiller, Robert 1, 2, 3, on financial crisis 1, 2, 3, ‘Signs of Transmission’ 1, Silicon Valley silver 1, 2, Simmel, Georg Simonson, Itamar slavery Smith, Adam 1, 2, 3, 4, Smith, Noah 1, social atomism social currencies Social Darwinists social physics social status Soddy, Frederick 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, sodium sodium chloride solar system model 1, Solow, Robert Sornette, Didier sound waves 1, Spain, metal sources discovery Spears, Taylor spectra Sperry, Roger spin spin glass square, oblong versus stability stamps 1, 2, paying with staters steam engines Sterman, John Stevens, Glenn Stiglitz, Joseph 1, 2, 3, stock market stocks, random motion of prices ‘stopping smoking’ game stories straight, crooked versus Strassman, Fritz ‘straw man’ string theory subjectivity Sumerians 1, 2, Summers, Larry Sunstein, Cass R superconductivity supply curve supply and demand, law of 1, surveys, question order symmetry 1, systems dynamics (nonlinear dynamics) 1, Szilárd, Leó T Taleb, Nassim Nicholas tallies Tarullo, Daniel taxes Taylor, Geoffrey 1, Thaler, Richard 1, 2, 3, 4, Thales 1, Thatcher, Margaret Theories of Everything 1, thermodynamics 1, information and quantum 1, second law of thinking, as form of wave function collapse Thorpe, Ed Tieleman, Joris 1, Tillerson, Rex tomatoes 1, top-down approach Toronto 1, 2, 3, Trabandt, Mathias trade deficits 1, trade liberalisation trading algorithms 1, 2, 3, Trump, Donald 1, trustworthiness survey 1, Tuan, Yi-Fu Turner, Adair 1, Tversky, Amos 1, 2, Twain, Mark U ubiquity Ulam, Stanislaw ultimatum game UN System of National Accounts uncertainty, in economics uncertainty principle 1, in markets unity, plurality versus universal basic income 1, universities, establishment unlimited limited versus 1, 2, Ur uranium decay 1, US dollar, as reference currency utility concept proposal expected happiness and marginal 1, 2, maximising/optimising 1, 2, 3, measuring mechanics of V value 1, characteristics intrinsic 1, 2, types/sides of 1, as uncertain value of of world value investors vegetables Venezuela 1, 2, Venezuelan bonds virtual, real versus 1, virtual economy virtual gold virtual wealth volatility Von Mises, Ludwig Von Neumann, John 1, 2, 3, and game theory 1, and weather forecasts Vuletić, Vladan W wage slaves Wang, Zheng Watson, James 1, Watson, John B Watson, Wilfred wave equation 1, 2, 3, wave function 1, 2, collapse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, social waves properties wealth distribution of effects happiness and weather forecasts 1, 2, ensemble Wendt, Alexander on creativity on mind/cognition 1, 2, 3, on money on quantum game theory on social structures on subjectivity Wennerlind, Carl Werner, Richard 1, White, William 1, Wikipedia Wiles, P.D William III, King Wilmott, Paul 1, 2, 3, 4, Wójcik, Dariusz Wolf, Martin wood, money made of see tallies Woolf, Virginia word association experiments work (mechanics) world, value of Wozniak, Steve Wren-Lewis, Simon writing, invention Y yang 1, yin 1, Young, Thomas 1, Yukalov, Vyacheslav Z Zohar, Danah Zukav, Gary Zweig, Jason ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Orrell is an applied mathematician and author of popular science books He studied mathematics at the University of Alberta, and obtained his doctorate from Oxford University on the prediction of nonlinear systems His work in applied mathematics and complex systems research has since led him to diverse areas such as weather forecasting, economics, and cancer biology His latest books are The Money Formula: Dodgy Finance, Pseudo Science, and How Mathematicians Took Over the Markets , written with Paul Wilmott, and Economyths: 11 Ways Economics Gets It Wrong (Icon Books, updated edition, 2017) COPYRIGHT Published in the UK and USA in 2018 by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP email: info@iconbooks.com www.iconbooks.com Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA or their agents Distributed in the UK, Europe and Asia by Grantham Book Services, Trent Road, Grantham NG31 7XQ Distributed in the USA by Publishers Group West, 1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 Distributed in Canada by Publishers Group Canada, 76 Stafford Street, Unit 300, Toronto, Ontario M6J 2S1 Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, NSW 2065 Distributed in South Africa by Jonathan Ball, Office B4, The District, 41 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925 Distributed in India by Penguin Books India, 7th Floor, Infinity Tower – C, DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon 122002, Haryana ISBN: 978–178578–399–9 eISBN: 978–178578–400–2 Text copyright © 2018 David Orrell The author has asserted his moral rights No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Typeset in Minion by Marie Doherty Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc ... the contradictions at its core All of this will come from analysing the meaning of the simple phrase: how much Or in Latin, quantum A quantum of money The word quantum of course has a lot of. .. interested in mathematical details are referred to: ‘Introduction to the mathematics of quantum economics , available at davidorrell.com/quantumeconomicsmath.pdf PART QUANTUM MONEY CHAPTER THE QUANTUM. .. mortgage because they lost their job, and they return the keys to the bank, then that changes the state of the loan instantaneously, even if the bank doesn’t find out until they open their mail At