Hideaki Aoyama is Professor of Physics at Kyoto University, Japan. Yoshi Fujiwara is Research Fellow at Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International (ATR). Yuichi Ikeda is Senior Researcher in Hitachi Ltd, Hitachi Research Laboratory, Japan. Hiroshi Iyetomi is Professor of Physics at Niigata University, Japan. Wataru Souma is Associate Professor of Physics at Nihon University, Japan.

• List of figures; List of tables; About the authors; Foreword; Preface; Prologue; 1. New insights; 2. Size distribution; 3. Fluctuations - company growth; 4. Complex business networks; 5. Agent-based model for companies; 6. Perspectives for practical applications; 7. Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

Review of the hardback: 'The failures of mainstream economic doctrine in interpreting the 'how and why' of the current financial and economic turmoil is an unrepeatable opportunity to change the situation. The probability of success largely depends on the capacity to pose the right research questions and develop the appropriate box of tools. That is what this path-breaking book impressively achieves. After having read it, the reader's approach to economics will surely change.' Mauro Gallegati, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, and Institute of Complex Systems, CNR, Rome