Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Economics

Simple market models fail the test

Subjects

An analysis of energy markets with prices that vary according to demand finds that this market design unexpectedly serves to amplify, rather than dampen, fluctuations in power use.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Synchronization spikes.

Antonio Arcos/Getty

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Krause, S., Börries, S. & Bornholdt, S. Phys. Rev. E 92, 012815 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pan, W., Pentland, A. S., Cheng, R. & Emsbo-Mattingly, L. MIT Sloan Mgmt Rev. 54, 54404 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Pentland, A. Social Physics: How Social Networks Can Make Us Smarter (Penguin, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Braha, D. PLoS ONE 7, e48596 (2012).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Naim, M. The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used to Be (Basic Books, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  6. World Economic Forum Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015 http://reports.weforum.org/outlook-global-agenda-2015 (2014).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex Pentland.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Diversity: Energy studies need social science

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pentland, A. Simple market models fail the test. Nature 525, 190–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15215

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15215

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing