All that remains is the therefore…..

The reality, then, is that economies can never be in equilibrium. They are always in motion, always in flux, always engaged in the same struggle with entropy that life itself faces. They are sustained by imbalance and by the constant management of disorder. And when they stop moving — when the flows dry up, or when the openness is shut down — they collapse.

Quantum physics sharpens this point. At the smallest scale, what looks stable is never still. A so-called stable atom is a dance of shifting probabilities. A supposedly solid state is a pulsing of energy fields. Stability in this world does not mean stillness. It means dynamic balance, sustained only through continuous change. That is why quantum theory is such a useful metaphor for economics. From a distance, the economy may look stable, but up close it is always a swirl of transactions, exchanges, conflicts, and innovations.

The neoclassical dream of equilibrium, then, is not the dream of a healthy economy. It is the dream of a dead one. Equilibrium means the absence of flows, the cessation of work, the collapse of openness. It is not a goal to be pursued but a condition to be feared.

Yet our economic policy is too often built on the false assumption that equilibrium should be the objective. Think of the constant political demand for “balanced budgets” or “fiscal rules” that tie government hands. These are attempts to impose closure on an open system. They imagine that the economy should be like a household, keeping its books tidy, rather than like a living organism that must remain open in order to survive. By suppressing flows of energy, cutting back spending, and reducing investment, such policies do not create health: they accelerate the move toward the stillness of death.

My wife’s question was right, then. Equilibrium is not a state that can ever be achieved in life. The struggle with entropy is perpetual. Our task is not to eliminate disorder but to keep it manageable — to import enough new energy, to remain open enough, to reduce disorder enough that life and growth can continue.

For economies, this means valuing disequilibrium rather than fearing it. Disequilibrium is the condition of creativity, of adaptation, of survival. It is the sign that the system is alive. Our real challenge is to manage it well: to channel energy into useful work, to sustain openness, and to prevent entropy from overwhelming us.

Cool. So, therefore…….therefore we need to leave the system repsonsive to changes and allow that same system to continue that struggle against entropy. Which means hanging all the bureaucrats and planners. Obviously.

Spud simply doesn’t get it that quantum means Hayek.