Oligopolistic Competition in an Evolutionary Environment: a Computer Simulation

Abstract

The following notes contain a computer simulation concerning effective competition in an evolutionary environment. The scope is to underline the existence of a side effect pertaining to the competitive processes: the tendency toward an excess of supply by producers which operate in a strongly competitive situation. A set of four oligopolistic firms will be employed in the formal reconstruction. The simulation will operate following the Edmond Malinvaud "short side" approach, as far as the price adjustment is concerned, and the sequential Hicksian "weeks" structure with regard of the temporal characterization. The content of the present paper ought to be considered as a development of the writing: Michele Tucci, Evolution and Gravitation: a Computer Simulation of a Non-Walrasian Equilibrium Model, published with the E-print Archives at arXiv.com (section: Computer Science, registration number: cs.CY/0209017). In such a paper there can be found some preliminary considerations regarding the comparison between the evolutionary and the gravitational paradigms and the evaluation of approaches belonging to rival schools of economic thought.