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Here, we draw attention to the underappreciated concept of timeliness\u2014i.e., system elements being available at the right place at the right time\u2014that has been ubiquitously and integrally adopted as a quality standard in the modus operandi of sociotechnical systems. We point out that a variety of incentives, often reinforced by competitive pressures, prompt system operators to myopically optimize for efficiencies, running the risk of inadvertently taking timeliness to the limit of its operational performance, correspondingly making the system critically fragile to perturbations by pushing the entire system toward the proverbial \u201cedge of a cliff.\u201d Invoking a stylized model for operational delays, we identify the limiting operational performance of timeliness, as a true critical point, where the smallest of perturbations can lead to a systemic collapse. Specifically for firm-to-firm production networks, we suggest that the proximity to critical fragility is an important ingredient for understanding the fundamental \u201cexcess volatility puzzle\u201d in economics. Further, in generality for optimizing sociotechnical systems, we propose that critical fragility is a crucial aspect in managing the trade-off between efficiency and robustness.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2415139122","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]],"date-time":"2025-02-25T13:42:51Z","timestamp":1740490971000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Critical fragility in sociotechnical systems"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"122","author":[{"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Moran","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Macrocosm Inc","place":["Brooklyn"]},{"name":"Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School","place":["Oxford, United Kingdom"]},{"name":"University of Oxford","place":["Oxford, United Kingdom"]},{"name":"Complexity Science Hub","place":["Vienna, Austria"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7572-9435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frank P.","family":"Pijpers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Statistics Netherlands","place":["The Hague, Netherlands"]},{"name":"Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics","place":["Amsterdam, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"University of Amsterdam","place":["Amsterdam, The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0493-9333","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Utz","family":"Weitzel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business and Economics","place":["Amsterdam, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam","place":["Amsterdam, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Faculty of Management","place":["Nijmegen, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Elena-Ostrom Building","place":["Nijmegen, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Radboud University Nijmegen","place":["Nijmegen, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam","place":["Amsterdam, The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0427-6456","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jean-Philippe","family":"Bouchaud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Capital Fund Management","place":["Paris, France"]},{"name":"Acad\u00e9mie des Sciences","place":["Paris, France"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2141-9735","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Debabrata","family":"Panja","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information and Computing Sciences","place":["Utrecht, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Utrecht University","place":["Utrecht, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Centre for Complex Systems Studies","place":["Utrecht, The Netherlands"]},{"name":"Utrecht University, Minnaertgebouw","place":["Utrecht, The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"341","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_1_2","first-page":"1","volume-title":"Handbook of Engineering Systems Design, Chapter Systems Thinking: Practical Insights on Systems-Led Design in Socio-Technical Engineering Systems","author":"Kaur M.","year":"2023","unstructured":"M. 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