Publication 8225

The paper discusses aspects of a project that strives to base an understanding of what economics call “productivity” on a complexity theoretic foundation. The core thesis of this project is that productivity can best be grasped by referring to two features commonly associated with knowledge – “nonreducibility in consumption” and “time preference”. The paper in hand focuses on theoretical aspects concerning the ontological status of the observer in defining productivity alongside these features. Oriented on the Theory of Social Systems by Niklas Luhmann and methodologically drawing on Multi-Agent-Simulation, it investigates the thesis that the observer itself – circularly – can be conceptualized as a consequence of these two features.