APE (Adaptive Political Economy)

Adaptive Political Economy (APE) forms one of the three pillars of Yuen Yuen Ang’s broader paradigm, AIM (Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral) political economy. APE studies political economies as complex adaptive systems, rather than as crude machines. Instead of assuming away the inherently complex qualities of political economies, APE designs theories and methods to illuminate them.

APE challenges the mechanical paradigm in mainstream political economy, which “thinks in machine mode” and fixates on control and eliminating risks. By contrast, APE thinks in systems mode, fosters adaptation, and discovers possibilities in disruption.

APE emphasizes four core principles: (1) Complex ≠ Complicated: societies are living, adaptive systems (trees), not crude machines (toasters). (2) Development as co-evolutionary, not linear: markets and institutions evolve together through mutual adaptation, not one before the other. (3) Influence over control: in complex systems, top-down control fails; more fruitful is designing meta-institutions that enable adaptation and learning. (4) Simple but not any simpler: theoretical models should capture interdependence, endogeneity, and uncertainty, without oversimplifying them away.