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Do power laws imply self-regulation?

Author

Listed:
  • Robert P. Freckleton

    (University of Oxford)

  • William J. Sutherland

    (School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia)

Abstract

Negative feedback leading to self-regulatory behaviour is an important phenomenon that affects time-series fluctuations in a range of systems and is critical in forecasting and management, particularly when complex dynamics are possible. Smethurst and Williams1 argue that the lengths of waiting-lists to see hospital consultants are self-regulating, on the grounds that the relative changes in the size of waiting-lists follow a power law, with large changes being relatively rare compared with small ones. Here we show that similar power laws can also be obtained from unregulated, random time series. The existence of a power law that governs fluctuations in time series is not sufficient to prove the existence of self-regulatory behaviour, and we argue that a more sophisticated analysis is required.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert P. Freckleton & William J. Sutherland, 2001. "Do power laws imply self-regulation?," Nature, Nature, vol. 413(6854), pages 382-382, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:413:y:2001:i:6854:d:10.1038_35096646
    DOI: 10.1038/35096646
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    Cited by:

    1. Gates, Deanna H. & Su, Jimmy L. & Dingwell, Jonathan B., 2007. "Possible biomechanical origins of the long-range correlations in stride intervals of walking," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 380(C), pages 259-270.
    2. Chakrabarti, Anindya Sundar & Chakrabarti, Bikas K. & Chatterjee, Arnab & Mitra, Manipushpak, 2009. "The Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem and resource utilization," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(12), pages 2420-2426.
    3. Michele Campolieti, 2019. "Power Law Distributions and the Size Distribution of Strikes," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 48(3), pages 561-587, August.

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