Anirban Chakraborti

Many real-life systems are dynamic, evolving, and intertwined. Examples of such systems displaying 'complexity', can be found in a wide variety of contexts ranging from economics to biology, to the environmental and physical sciences. The study of complex systems involves analysis and interpretation of vast quantities of data, which necessitates the application of many classical and modern tools and techniques from statistics, network science, machine learning, and agent-based modelling. Drawing from the latest research, this self-contained and pedagogical text describes some of the most important and widely used methods, emphasising both empirical and theoretical approaches. More broadly, this book provides an accessible guide to a data-driven toolkit for scientists, engineers, and social scientists who require effective analysis of large quantities of data, whether that be related to social networks, financial markets, economies or other types of complex systems.

A limit order book is essentially a file on a computer that contains all orders sent to the market, along with their characteristics such as the sign of the order, price, quantity and a timestamp. The majority of organized electronic markets rely on limit order books to store the list of interests of market participants on their central computer. A limit order book contains all the information available on a specific market and it reflects the way the market moves under the influence of its participants. This book discusses several models of limit order books. It begins by discussing the data to assess their empirical properties, and then moves on to mathematical models in order to reproduce the observed properties. Finally, the book presents a framework for numerical simulations. It also covers important modelling techniques including agent-based modelling, and advanced modelling of limit order books based on Hawkes processes. The book also provides in-depth coverage of simulation techniques and introduces general, flexible, open source library concepts useful to readers studying trading strategies in order-driven markets.

The distribution of wealth and income is never uniform, and philosophers and economists have tried for years to understand the reasons and formulate remedies for such inequalities. This book introduces the elegant and intriguing kinetic exchange models that physicists have developed to tackle these issues. This is the first monograph in econophysics focussed on the analyses and modelling of these distributions, and is ideal for physicists and economists. It is written in simple, lucid language, with plenty of illustrations and in-depth analyses, making it suitable for researchers new to this field as well as specialized readers. It explores the origin of economic inequality and examines the scientific steps that can be taken to reduce this inequality in the future.

Filling the gap for an up-to-date textbook in this relatively new interdisciplinary research field, this volume provides readers with a thorough and comprehensive introduction. Based on extensive teaching experience, it includes numerous worked examples and highlights in special biographical boxes some of the most outstanding personalities and their contributions to both physics and economics. The whole is rounded off by several appendices containing important background material.