On principles and rules in complex adaptive systems: A financial system case study

George A. Polacek, David A. Gianetto, Khaldoun Khashanah, Dinesh Verma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Systems engineers have always been concerned with the problems surrounding complex systems. An evolutionary class of complex systems called Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) is even more relevant today as we struggle to understand and cope with the often undesirable emergence effects of some of these systems, evidenced by recurring financial and sociopolitical crises. A key characteristic of CAS is a large, diverse, and sometimes unknown set of interactions both internally and across the system boundary. For the purpose of managing this complexity we present in this paper the concept that a principles orientation as compared to rules orientation of a complex system is an important and useful characteristic in need of further study. The US financial system is used as a CAS exemplar in support of this inquiry.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)433-447
Number of pages15
JournalSystems Engineering
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2012

Keywords

  • CAS
  • GAAP
  • IFRS
  • SoS
  • complexity
  • financial system
  • leverage points
  • principles
  • rules
  • systems engineering

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