The Advent of Ergodicity Economics. An Overview of (Some) Results.

In this seminar, I will discuss the general idea of the recent research programme coined Ergodicity Economics (EE). The seminar is shaped to provide the basis for future collaborations, thus I will briefly highlight some theoretical and experimental results and conclude with current research questions.

Ergodic theory studies the behaviour of averages and arose from the ergodicity problem in the foundations of statistical mechanics. Ergodicity Economics studies the ergodicity problem in the context of economics, more specifically the conditions under which ensemble averages coincide with time averages. As it turns out, ergodicity is a foundational issue especially in the context of decision making under uncertainty. Although the evaluation of gambles is at the basis of formal economics, the community is mostly unfamiliar with the concept of ergodicity. This leaves ample opportunities for joint future research projects.

Embedding economics within historical time is a long-desired desideratum. Growth rate maximisation -- as the main novelty associated with EE -- constitutes not only a mere different rationality criterion, it rather uses physically meaningful observables (time-averaged quantities) to coherently describe economic processes.