Econophysics and Sociophysics: Recent Progress and Future Directions

This book presents the proceedings from ECONOPHYS-2015,
an international workshop held in New Delhi, India, on the interrelated fields
of “econophysics” and “sociophysics”, which have emerged from the application
of statistical physics to economics and sociology. Leading researchers from
varied communities, including economists, sociologists, financial analysts,
mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, and others, report on their recent
work, discuss topical issues, and review the relevant contemporary literature.

A society can be described as a group of people
who inhabit the same geographical or social territory and are mutually involved
through their shared participation in different aspects of life. It is possible
to observe and characterize average behaviors of members of a society, an example
being voting behavior. Moreover, the dynamic nature of interaction within any
economic sector comprising numerous cooperatively interacting agents has many
features in common with the interacting systems of statistical physics. It is
on these bases that interest has grown in the application within sociology and
economics of the tools of statistical mechanics. This book will be of value for
all with an interest in this flourishing field.