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Statistical Equilibrium Methods In Analytical Political Economy

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  • Ellis Scharfenaker

Abstract

Economic systems produce robust statistical patterns in key sate variables including prices and incomes. Statistical equilibrium methods explain the distributional properties of state variables as arising from specific institutional, environmental, and behavioral postulates. Two broad traditions have developed in political economy with the complementary aim of conceptualizing economic processes as irreducibly statistical phenomena but differ in their methodologies and interpretations of statistical explanation. These conceptual differences broadly mirror the methodological divisions in statistical mechanics, but also emerge in distinct ways when considered in the context of social sciences. This paper surveys the use of statistical equilibrium methods in analytical political economy and identifies the leading methodological and philosophical questions in this growing field of research.

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  • Ellis Scharfenaker, 2022. "Statistical Equilibrium Methods In Analytical Political Economy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 276-309, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jecsur:v:36:y:2022:i:2:p:276-309
    DOI: 10.1111/joes.12403
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    Cited by:

    1. Ellis Scharfenaker, Duncan K. Foley, 2023. "The Neutrality of Money Reconsidered: A Statistical Equilibrium Model of the Labor Market," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2023_02, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    2. Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2020. "Implications of quantal response statistical equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Danial Ludwig & Victor M. Yakovenko, 2021. "Physics-inspired analysis of the two-class income distribution in the USA in 1983-2018," Papers 2110.03140, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    4. Jonathan F. Cogliano & Roberto Veneziani & Naoki Yoshihara, 2022. "Computational methods and classical‐Marxian economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 310-349, April.
    5. Roberto Veneziani & Luca Zamparelli, 2022. "Analytical political economy: Complexity, growth, international trade," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 271-275, April.
    6. Benjamin Patrick Evans & Mikhail Prokopenko, 2021. "A maximum entropy model of bounded rational decision-making with prior beliefs and market feedback," Papers 2102.09180, arXiv.org, revised May 2021.

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