Tuesday, November 18, 2014
8:30am – 3:30pm
Rosenthal Pavilion, NYU Kimmel Center, 10th floor
60 Washington Square South, New York City

2:30pm-3:30pm: “Small is Beautiful – but Also Less Fragile,” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering, NYU School of Engineering

We use fragility theory to show the effect of size and response to uncertainty, how distributed decision-making creates more apparent volatility, but ensures long term survival of a system. Simply, economies of scale are more than offset by stochastic diseconomies from shocks and there is such a thing as a “sweet spot” in optimal size. We show how city-states fare better than large states, how mice and small species are more robust than elephants, and how the canton mechanism can potentially solve Near Eastern problems.

This event is co-sponsored by the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management. Funding is generously provided by the John Templeton Foundation. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

via 2014 Annual Conference | Cities and Development: Urban Determinants of Success | NYU Development Research Institute.