Some 35 researchers participated in a study centre on `Non-Linear Dynamics in Economics', organized jointly by CEPR with the European University Institute, Firenze, which took place at the Institute during 6-17 July. The organizers were Mark Salmon, Professor of Economics at the Institute and a Research Fellow in CEPR's International Macroeconomics programme, Alan Kirman, Professor of Economics at the Institute, and Professors David Rand and Robert McKay of the Mathematics Department, University of Warwick. Financial support from the European Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

The study centre focused on the debate within economics over the shortcomings of linear stochastic models in providing adequate explanations of economic phenomena. The centre brought together leading mathematicians, econometricians and economists in order to enable non-linear systems theorists to enhance their understanding of the questions currently researched by economists and to improve economists' understanding of recent theoretical developments in non-linear dynamics. It therefore provided a `state-of-the-art' appraisal of the progress of research and a clear identification of future priorities. The papers presented investigated the possible contributions of linear stochastic and non-linear deterministic models to theories of the business cycle, chaos in financial markets and endogenous growth and the relation between such models within economics and mathematically similar models developed by biologists to study evolution and ecology.