Here is a mail I received and I think will interest the group :



   STOCK MARKET: FOLLOW THE LEADER
   To make money in the stock market, you have to understand risk.
   Physicists have been using statistical physics methods to analyze
   markets in order to better understand market risks, such as the
   probability that a large shift in market value will occur during a
   year-long interval. Real markets have a higher probability of
   experiencing large changes than conventional "pure chance" would
   predict, and econophysicists have suggested many schemes to explain
   this fact. The latest idea, reported in the 25 December PRL, points
   to the "herding behavior" for which traders are famous. The authors
   describe a simple computer model where information networks grow
   randomly until entire "clusters" of traders act on the news and then
   wait for the next "rumor mill" to grow. The model predicts price
   fluctuations similar to those of real markets.
   (V. M. Eguʽluz and M. G. Zimmermann, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5659.
   COMPLETE Focus story at [1]http://focus.aps.org/v6/st28.html
   Link to the paper: [2]http://publish.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v85/p5659/)
   Attempts like that one could create a good basis for the development of
   a theory of psychohistory.



   Vagelford

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References

   1. http://focus.aps.org/v6/st28.html
   2. http://publish.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v85/p5659/)
   3. http://rd.yahoo.com/M=163100.1220844.2856387.2/D=egroupmail/S=1700619572:N/A=524804/*http://www.classmates.com/index.tf?s=2629