IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v285y2000i3p506-538.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The futility of utility: how market dynamics marginalize Adam Smith

Author

Listed:
  • McCauley, Joseph L.

Abstract

Economic theorizing is based on the postulated, nonempiric notion of utility. Economists assume that prices, dynamics, and market equilibria are supposed to be derived from utility. The results are supposed to represent mathematically the stabilizing action of Adam Smith's invisible hand. In deterministic excess demand dynamics I show the following. A utility function generally does not exist mathematically due to nonintegrable dynamics when production/investment are accounted for, resolving Mirowski's thesis. Price as a function of demand does not exist mathematically either. All equilibria are unstable. I then explain how deterministic chaos can be distinguished from random noise at short times. In the generalization to liquid markets and finance theory described by stochastic excess demand dynamics, I also show the following. Market price distributions cannot be rescaled to describe price movements as ‘equilibrium’ fluctuations about a systematic drift in price. Utility maximization does not describe equilibrium. Maximization of the Gibbs entropy of the observed price distribution of an asset would describe equilibrium, if equilibrium could be achieved, but equilibrium does not describe real, liquid markets (stocks, bonds, foreign exchange). There are three inconsistent definitions of equilibrium used in economics and finance, only one of which is correct. Prices in unregulated free markets are unstable against both noise and rising or falling expectations: Adam Smith's stabilizing invisible hand does not exist, either in mathematical models of liquid market data, or in real market data.

Suggested Citation

  • McCauley, Joseph L., 2000. "The futility of utility: how market dynamics marginalize Adam Smith," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 285(3), pages 506-538.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:285:y:2000:i:3:p:506-538
    DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00296-X
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037843710000296X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00296-X?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Per Bak & Simon F. Norrelykke & Martin Shubik, 1998. "The Dynamics of Money," Papers cond-mat/9811094, arXiv.org, revised May 1999.
    2. Yi-Cheng Zhang, 1999. "Toward a Theory of Marginally Efficient Markets," Papers cond-mat/9901243, arXiv.org.
    3. Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 1999. "Toward a theory of marginally efficient markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 269(1), pages 30-44.
    4. Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, A. Craig & Zhang, June, 2002. "Econometric models of limit-order executions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 31-71, July.
    5. Landes, William M & Posner, Richard A, 1989. "An Economic Analysis of Copyright Law," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 325-363, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shi, Leilei, 2006. "Does security transaction volume–price behavior resemble a probability wave?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 366(C), pages 419-436.
    2. Small Michael & Tse Chi K., 2003. "Determinism in Financial Time Series," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(3), pages 1-31, October.
    3. Tursoy, Turgut & Berk, Niyazi, 2020. "Discussion of Financial Integration at the Global Market Era," MPRA Paper 100115, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Sara Bourhime & Mohamed Tkiouat, 2018. "Rethinking Microfinance in a Dual Financial System: An Agent-based Simulation," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 65(1), pages 13-29, March.
    5. McCauley, Joseph L, 2002. "Adam Smith's invisible hand is unstable: physics and dynamics reasoning applied to economic theorizing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 314(1), pages 722-727.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. E. Samanidou & E. Zschischang & D. Stauffer & T. Lux, 2001. "Microscopic Models of Financial Markets," Papers cond-mat/0110354, arXiv.org.
    2. E. Samanidou & E. Zschischang & D. Stauffer & T. Lux, 2007. "Agent-based Models of Financial Markets," Papers physics/0701140, arXiv.org.
    3. Fernandes, Leonardo H.S. & de Araujo, Fernando H.A. & Tabak, Benjamin M., 2021. "Insights from the (in)efficiency of Chinese sectoral indices during COVID-19," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 578(C).
    4. Kostanjcar, Zvonko & Jeren, Branko & Juretic, Zeljan, 2012. "Impact of uncertainty in expected return estimation on stock price volatility," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(22), pages 5563-5571.
    5. Van Vliet, Ben, 2017. "Capability satisficing in high frequency trading," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 509-521.
    6. Sazuka, Naoya & Ohira, Toru & Marumo, Kouhei & Shimizu, Tokiko & Takayasu, Misako & Takayasu, Hideki, 2003. "A dynamical structure of high frequency currency exchange market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 324(1), pages 366-371.
    7. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2009. "Forbidden patterns, permutation entropy and stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(14), pages 2854-2864.
    8. Caldarelli, Guido & Capocci, Andrea & Laureti, Paolo, 2001. "Sex-oriented stable matchings of the marriage problem with correlated and incomplete information," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 299(1), pages 268-272.
    9. Liehr, Stefan & Pawelzik, Klaus, 2000. "A trading strategy with variable investment from minimizing risk to profit ratio," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 524-538.
    10. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    11. Stosic, Darko & Stosic, Dusan & Ludermir, Teresa B. & Stosic, Tatijana, 2019. "Exploring disorder and complexity in the cryptocurrency space," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 548-556.
    12. Gao, Yan & Li, Honggang, 2011. "A consolidated model of self-fulfilling expectations and self-destroying expectations in financial markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 368-381, March.
    13. Argyroudis, George S. & Siokis, Fotios M., 2019. "Spillover effects of Great Recession on Hong-Kong’s Real Estate Market: An analysis based on Causality Plane and Tsallis Curves of Complexity–Entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 576-586.
    14. Ohira, Toru & Sazuka, Naoya & Marumo, Kouhei & Shimizu, Tokiko & Takayasu, Misako & Takayasu, Hideki, 2002. "Predictability of currency market exchange," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 308(1), pages 368-374.
    15. Stauffer, Dietrich & Sornette, Didier, 1999. "Self-organized percolation model for stock market fluctuations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 271(3), pages 496-506.
    16. Wang, Yougui & Stanley, H.E., 2009. "Statistical approach to partial equilibrium analysis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(7), pages 1173-1180.
    17. Gu, Gao-Feng & Xiong, Xiong & Zhang, Yong-Jie & Chen, Wei & Zhang, Wei & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2016. "Stylized facts of price gaps in limit order books," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 48-58.
    18. Didier SORNETTE, 2014. "Physics and Financial Economics (1776-2014): Puzzles, Ising and Agent-Based Models," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 14-25, Swiss Finance Institute.
    19. Sornette, Didier & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2004. "Evidence of fueling of the 2000 new economy bubble by foreign capital inflow: implications for the future of the US economy and its stock market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 332(C), pages 412-440.
    20. Iori, Giulia, 2002. "A microsimulation of traders activity in the stock market: the role of heterogeneity, agents' interactions and trade frictions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 269-285, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:285:y:2000:i:3:p:506-538. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.