  Hierarchical analysis is considered and a multilevel model is presented in
order to explore causality, chance and complexity in financial economics. A
coupled system of models is used to describe multilevel interactions,
consistent with market data: the lowest level is occupied by agents generating
the prices of individual traded assets; the next level entails aggregation of
stocks into markets; the third level combines shared risk factors with
information variables and bottom-up, agent-generated structure, consistent with
conditions for no-arbitrage pricing theory; the fourth level describes market
factors which originate in the greater economy and the highest levels are
described by regulated market structure and the customs and ethics which define
the nature of acceptable transactions. A mechanism for emergence or innovation
is considered and causal sources are discussed in terms of five causation
classes.
