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Wealth, income, earnings and the statistical mechanics of flow systems

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  • Willis, Geoff

Abstract

This paper looks at empirical data from economics regarding wealth, earnings and income, alongside a flow model for an economy based on the general Lotka-Volterra models of Levy & Solomon. The data and modelling suggest that a simple economic system might provide a tractable model for giving an exact statistical mechanical solution for an 'out of equilibrium' flow model. This might also include an exact mathematical definition of a 'dissipative structure' derived from maximum entropy considerations. This paper is primarily a qualitative discussion of how such a mathematical proof might be achieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Willis, Geoff, 2011. "Wealth, income, earnings and the statistical mechanics of flow systems," MPRA Paper 31139, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:31139
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/31139/1/MPRA_paper_31139.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willis, Geoff, 2011. "The Bowley Ratio," MPRA Paper 30852, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Douglas Gollin, 2002. "Getting Income Shares Right," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 458-474, April.
    3. Jean-Philippe Bouchaud & Marc Mezard, 2000. "Wealth condensation in a simple model of economy," Science & Finance (CFM) working paper archive 500026, Science & Finance, Capital Fund Management.
    4. Wright, Ian, 2005. "The social architecture of capitalism," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 346(3), pages 589-620.
    5. A. Chatterjee & B. K. Chakrabarti, 2007. "Kinetic exchange models for income and wealth distributions," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 60(2), pages 135-149, November.
    6. Willis, Geoff, 2011. "Why money trickles up – wealth & income distributions," MPRA Paper 30851, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Arnab Chatterjee & Bikas K. Chakrabarti, 2007. "Kinetic Exchange Models for Income and Wealth Distributions," Papers 0709.1543, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2007.
    8. Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe & Mézard, Marc, 2000. "Wealth condensation in a simple model of economy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 282(3), pages 536-545.
    9. Arnab Chatterjee & Sitabhra Sinha & Bikas K. Chakrabarti, 2007. "Economic Inequality: Is it Natural?," Papers physics/0703201, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2007.
    10. Moshe Levy & Sorin Solomon, 1996. "Power Laws Are Logarithmic Boltzmann Laws," International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(04), pages 595-601.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Venkatasubramanian, Venkat & Luo, Yu & Sethuraman, Jay, 2015. "How much inequality in income is fair? A microeconomic game theoretic perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 435(C), pages 120-138.
    2. Kerim Eser Afc{s}ar & Mehmet Ozyi~git & Yusuf Yuksel & Umit Ak{i}nc{i}, 2021. "Testing the Goodwin Growth Cycles with Econophysics Approach in 2002-2019 Period in Turkey," Papers 2106.02546, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wealth; earnings; income; entropy; lotka; volterra; dissipative;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

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