Physics Laws of Social Science

Wayne, James J. (2013): Physics Laws of Social Science.

Abstract

Economics, and other fields of social science are often criticized as unscientific for their apparent failures to formulate universal laws governing human societies. Whether economics is truly a science is one of the oldest questions. This paper attempts to create such universal laws, and asserts that economics is a branch of quantum physics just like chemistry. Choice is a central concept in economics and other fields of social science, yet there is no corresponding concept of choice in modern physics. This article suggests that by introducing the concept of choice to the existing framework of physics, one can formulate five new physics laws, which establishes a common physics foundation for all fields of social and natural science. Applications in economics, biology, history, and finance prove that these new laws remove the invisible wall, which has been artificially separating social science from natural science. One implication of this article is that to establish a sound scientific foundation for social science requires not only advances in psychology and neurobiology but also a new interpretation of quantum mechanics.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: choice, indeterminacy, predicting the future, information, uncertainty, equilibrium, physics laws of social science
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; D - Microeconomics > D5 - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

References

1. Robert H. Frank & Ben S. Bernanke, 2003. “Principles of Economics”, Irwin/McGraw

2. George F. R. Ellis, 2005. “Physics, Complexity, and Causality”, Nature, 435, 743

3. George F. R. Ellis, 2005. “Physics and the Real World”, Physics Today, 49

4. National Research Council, 1990. “Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation, BEIR V.”, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

5. Erwin Schrödinger, 1935. “The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics”, Naturwissenschaftern, 23, 807-812

6. Leonard I. Schiff, 1968. “Quantum Mechanics”, McGraw-Hill Companies

7. Max Born in Nobel Lectures, 1964. “Physics 1942 – 1962”, Elsevier Publishing Company

8. Jonathan M. Raser & Erin K. O'Shea, 2005. “Noise in gene expression: origins, consequences, and control”, Science, 309, 2010

9. Nicolaas G. van Kampen, 1992. “Stochastic Processes in Physics and Chemistry” North-Holland, Amsterdam

10. Gerd Gigerenzer & Reinhard Selten, 2001. “Bounded Rationality”, The MIT Press

11. Herbert A. Simon, 1952. "A Formal Theory of Interaction in Social Groups”, American Sociological Review, 17, 202

12. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "A Psychological Perspective on Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 162-168

13. Fischer Black & Myron S. Scholes, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-54, May-June

14. Statistics available from the web site of Bank for International Settlement: OTC derivatives market activity in the first half of 2005, Nov. 17, 2005

15. Stephen A. Ross, 1987. “The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics”, J. Eatwell & M. Milgate & P. Newman eds, Macmillan, London

16. John Hull, 2005. “Options, Futures and Other Derivatives”, Prentice Hall

17. James J. Wayne, 2005. “Physics Laws of Social Science”, Lawrence Cedar House

18. Roland Omnes, 1994. “The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics”, Princeton University Press, New Jersey