Economic theory often seeks to identify a model's "equilibrium" - a stable state towards which the systems trends and then rests. However, many economic, political and social systems have multiple equilibria. This provokes questions: which equilibrium will emerge, what determines that outcome, and how stable is it?

Understanding this illuminates the robustness and fragility of the systems on which we rely. It also explains why seemingly arbitrary features can be highly influential.

For example...

• Why a bank can be healthy one day and collapse with a bank run next.
• How and why power within an organisation can be concentrated on a single individual.
• Why political norms can remain entrenched for decades until suddenly they are not.
• How your life could change from going great to collapsing quicker than you hoped (and, more optimistically, vice versa).