Income Distribution Dynamics of Economic Systems

Econophysics has been used to study a range of economic and financial systems. This book uses the econophysical perspective to focus on the income distributive dynamics of economic systems. It focuses on the empirical characterization and dynamics of income distribution and its related quantities from the epistemological and practical perspectives of contemporary physics. Several income distribution functions are presented which fit income data and results obtained by statistical physicists on the income distribution problem. The book discusses two separate research traditions: the statistical physics approach, and the approach based on non-linear trade cycle models of macroeconomic dynamics. Several models of distributive dynamics based on the latter approach are presented, connecting the studies by physicists on distributive dynamics with the recent literature by economists on income inequality. As econophysics is such an interdisciplinary field, this book will be of interest to physicists, economists, statisticians and applied mathematicians.

• Covers briefly the history of physics and economic thought from the epistemological viewpoint of contemporary physics, providing background materials for physicists and economists not familiar with econophysics
• Provides a comparison of the way physicists approach a research problem with the one followed by economists, emphasizing the methodological differences
• Provides an overview of the primary literature in statistical econophysics of income distribution and in distributive competition models based on non-linear trade cycles of macroeconomic dynamics, making them accessible to physicists, economists, statisticians and applied mathematicians