Micromotives and Macrobehavior

that people—or, if you like, automata, algorithms—can and do act in situations that are not well defined.

Markets are driven by the actions of countless individuals, each reacting to his or her whims, the weather, and the news of the day. Remarkably, just as with army ants, out of all our individual actions emerges a higher order, a set of prices that allows us to buy and sell whatever we may desire.