What if the market, instead of simply aggregating individual minds, creates and gathers into existence a collective mind of its own, including extended consciousness? Less farfetched than it sounds, this has always casually been referred to by investors as “the market’s mind”. Moreover, what are the subsequent implications, especially for mainstream’s flawed view (and treatment) of the market as an automaton? They could be profound.

With the MMH as a guide to behaviour, we may be better able to identify when things go awry, and avoid some of the excesses—both bubbles and crashes—that have occurred over the years. Likewise, the MMH can guide individual actors to better interpret the information they are getting, and thus improve their decisions. This is an outcome that’s key for the widest spectrum of financial sector companies including banks, insurers, actuarial advisors, pension funds and investment firms.

Scotland as a centre for financial thought

Ever since the Enlightenment, Scotland has been at the forefront of economic thought and theory–it was the home of some of the U.K.’s earliest banks and the centre for the development of the insurance and investment industry. Under the auspices of the Edinburgh Business School, we’re proud to continue in this long tradition, bringing together expertise from academia, business, and public policy.

Multidisciplinary

The best theories often come from combining different but complementary approaches. Our subject matter—partnering cognitive science with economics—raises important issues in how markets can and should operate, and how our understanding of mentality (in all its forms) relates to market activity. It also aims to help answer age-old questions such as the relationship between the realm of ideas and the physical world.