Bubble physics

When it comes to mass behavior, say two French scientists, atomic physics may be as helpful as psychology

Crude atomic models predict everything from financial bubbles to declining European birthrates to patterns of clapping at concerts.

By Mark Buchanan

August 7, 2005

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IF THE US HOUSING market crashes--next month, next year, or whenever--someone will have to take the blame. Accusations will fly that banks were irresponsible in their lending, or that people got just a little too greedy. Meanwhile, economists and social scientists are increasingly coming around to a rather different view: that market ''bubbles" in houses, stocks, or anything else are ... (Full article: 1035 words)