Vlad Popescu
Vlad Popescu
Graduate of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Faculty of International Business and Economics; interested in neuroeconomics and passionate about biology, chemistry and physics
An Economic Perspective on the Ant Colony

An Economic Perspective on the Ant Colony

Ever since I explored the surrealism around Salvador Dali’s creative universe, I have been fascinated in particular by one of his prevailing iconographic motifs symbolizing death, putrefaction, moral degradation as well as his dark spectrum of sexual desires: the swarming ants. Dali’s artistry largely consisted of exposing his subconscious imagery through these seemingly unobtrusive symbols. Despite this, however, what do we actually know about ants? More


The Inconsistency of Biological Analogies in Economics

The Inconsistency of Biological Analogies in Economics

I often tend to use biological analogies either as a simple heuristic or an explanatory model in an analysis, or as a purely illustrative model in support of certain ideas by constructing argumentative structures. For instance, in an attempt to understand how the mechanism of import-export operations at the level of an economy works, I have associated this bidirectional mechanism with the sodium-potassium pump found in the plasma membrane of almost every human cell. But can such analogies actually be used in economics? Can we deal with complex phenomena in economics through such a reductionist approach as biological analogies or, conversely, biological metaphors are a consequence of the complementarity between economics and biology, designed to give rise to a new more complex field, such as evolutionary economics? Nevertheless, one thing is certain: there are reasons for the scepticism towards biological analogies, and the heuristic value of evolutionary biology for economics is still a matter for debate.  More


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