Editorial for Forum for Economic and Financial Studies (Volume 3, Issue 1)

Article ID: 3245

Abstract

The papers in this issue, nicely fit together within the “systems approach,” as they all regard the economy as a system and analyze one or a few of its components. The systems approach has received increasing importance in various branches of analysis. The systems approach is commonly organized around general principles, such as the following: (i) that the system can be identified by some sort of boundary that differentiates it from its environment; (ii) that the system is essentially processual in nature; (iii) that this process can be conceptualized in terms of a basic model that focuses upon input, throughput, output, and feedback; (iv) that the overall operation of the system can be understood in terms of the satisfaction of system needs geared to survival or the achievement of homeostasis; (v) that the system is composed of subsystems that contribute to the satisfaction of the system’s overall needs; (vi) that these subsystems, which themselves have identifiable boundaries, are in a state of mutual interdependence, both internally and in relation to their environment; (vii) that the operation of the system can be observed in terms of the behavior of its constituent elements; (viii) that the critical activities within the context of system operation are those that involve boundary transactions, both internally between subsystems and externally in relation to the environment.