A (reactive) lattice-gas approach to economic cycles

Abstract

A microscopic approach to macroeconomic features is intended. A model for macroeconomic behavior under heterogeneous spatial economic conditions is reviewed. A birth-death lattice gas model taking into account the influence of an economic environment on the fitness and concentration evolution of economic entities is numerically and analytically examined. The reaction-diffusion model can be also mapped onto a high order logistic map. The role of the selection pressure along various dynamics with entity diffusion on a square symmetry lattice has been studied by Monte-Carlo simulation. The model leads to a sort of phase transition for the fitness gap as a function of the selection pressure and to cycles. The control parameter is a (scalar) ''business plan''. The business plan(s) allows for spin-offs or merging and enterprise survival evolution law(s), whence bifurcations, cycles and chaotic behavior.