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Sensitivity and Uncertainty: Locust Plagues and Price Dynamics of Commodities

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Managing Complexity in Social Systems

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

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Abstract

One of the beauties of working with the semasiographic language of SFD—Stock and Flow Diagram—is its potential to find common dynamics between two seemingly different systems. If two SFDs look alike, then no matter how different the elements may appear, their behavior pattern is alike. When such a similarity becomes clear, then understanding the behavior of one system helps understanding the behavior of the other. In natural languages, referring to one thing by mentioning another thing is called a metaphor, like the famous one by Shakespeare (1623):

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Mandl, C.E. (2019). Sensitivity and Uncertainty: Locust Plagues and Price Dynamics of Commodities. In: Managing Complexity in Social Systems. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01645-6_8

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