IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/qld/uq2004/478.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Understanding the causes of income inequality in complex economic systems

Author

Abstract

We suggest in this paper that inequality in economic systems can be profitably analysed using complex systems analysis. We explain how we can capture, analytically, complexity in an economic system by applying graph theory in networks. We then develop a highly stylised theoretical model of how income inequality arises naturally due to the fact that a skewed income distribution necessarily arises from “preferential attachment” in a complex economic system. We characterise this process, both in the market system broadly defined and, specifically, within a firm. It is argued that such a complex systems approach (despite being vastly simplified here) provides a superior basis for understanding income inequality compared to standard economic analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Brendan Markey-Towler & John Foster, 2013. "Understanding the causes of income inequality in complex economic systems," Discussion Papers Series 478, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
  • Handle: RePEc:qld:uq2004:478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://economics.uq.edu.au/files/45778/478.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Corso, G. & Lucena, L.S. & Thomé, Z.D., 2003. "The small-world of economy: a speculative proposal," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 324(1), pages 430-436.
    2. Williamson, Oliver, 2009. "The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 6, pages 111-134, December.
    3. Sheri M. Markose, 2005. "Computability and Evolutionary Complexity: Markets as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 159-192, June.
    4. Jason Potts, 2000. "The New Evolutionary Microeconomics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2258.
    5. Hausman, Daniel M, 1989. "Economic Methodology in a Nutshell," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 115-127, Spring.
    6. Weizsäcker,Robert, 1993. "A Theory of Earnings Distribution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521342940, October.
    7. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    8. Dopfer,Kurt (ed.), 2005. "The Evolutionary Foundations of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621991, October.
    9. Matthew Rabin, 1998. "Psychology and Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 11-46, March.
    10. Frank Schweitzer & Giorgio Fagiolo & Didier Sornette & Fernando Vega-Redondo & Douglas R. White, 2009. "Economic Networks: What Do We Know And What Do We Need To Know?," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(04n05), pages 407-422.
    11. Stuart McDonald & Mohamad Alghamdi & Bernard Pailthorpe, 2012. "The Emergence of a Small World in a Network of Research Joint Ventures," Discussion Papers Series 469, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    12. John Foster, 2005. "From simplistic to complex systems in economics," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(6), pages 873-892, November.
    13. Earl, Peter E, 1990. "Economics and Psychology: A Survey," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(402), pages 718-755, September.
    14. Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter, 2002. "Evolutionary Theorizing in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 23-46, Spring.
    15. Kahneman, Daniel & Tversky, Amos, 1979. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 263-291, March.
    16. Jeong-Yoo Kim & Hang-Hyun Jo, 2010. "A signalling explanation for preferential attachment in the evolution of social networks," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 375-393, June.
    17. Foster, John, 1993. "Economics and the Self-Organisation Approach: Alfred Marshall Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(419), pages 975-991, July.
    18. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1449-1475, December.
    19. Peter Earl & Tim Wakeley, 2010. "Alternative perspectives on connections in economic systems," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 163-183, April.
    20. Matthew O. Jackson & Brian W. Rogers, 2007. "Meeting Strangers and Friends of Friends: How Random Are Social Networks?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 890-915, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gogas, Periklis & Gupta, Rangan & Miller, Stephen M. & Papadimitriou, Theophilos & Sarantitis, Georgios Antonios, 2017. "Income inequality: A complex network analysis of US states," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 483(C), pages 423-437.
    2. Periklis Gogas & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller & Theophilos Papadimitriou & Georgios Antonios Sarantitis, 2015. "Income Inequality: A State-by-State Complex Network Analysis," Working Papers 201534, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    3. Lapatinas Athanasios, 2014. "Understanding Voting Behaviour in Complex Political Systems," Mathematical Economics Letters, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3-4), pages 1-7, November.
    4. Alberto Cardaci & Francesco Saraceno, 2019. "Between Scylla And Charybdis: Income Distribution, Consumer Credit, And Business Cycles," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 953-971, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brendan Markey‐Towler, 2019. "The New Microeconomics: A Psychological, Institutional, and Evolutionary Paradigm with Neoclassical Economics as a Special Case," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 78(1), pages 95-135, January.
    2. Brendan Markey-Towler, 2018. "A formal psychological theory for evolutionary economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 691-725, September.
    3. Brendan Markey-Towler, 2018. "Salience, chains and anchoring. Reducing complexity and enhancing the practicality of behavioural economics," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 2(1), pages 83-90, March.
    4. Lapatinas Athanasios, 2014. "Understanding Voting Behaviour in Complex Political Systems," Mathematical Economics Letters, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3-4), pages 1-7, November.
    5. Verónica Robert & Gabriel Yoguel & Octavio Lerena, 2017. "The ontology of complexity and the neo-Schumpeterian evolutionary theory of economic change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 761-793, September.
    6. Richard Holt & J. Barkley Rosser & David Colander, 2011. "The Complexity Era in Economics," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 357-369.
    7. Foster, John & Metcalfe, J. Stan, 2012. "Economic emergence: An evolutionary economic perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 420-432.
    8. Brendan Markey-Towler, 2016. "Law of the jungle: firm survival and price dynamics in evolutionary markets," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 655-696, July.
    9. Múñoz, Féliz-Fernando & Encinar, María-Isabel & Cañibano, Carolina, 2016. "Agents, interaction, and economic laws: An analytical framework for understanding different economic theories," Working Papers in Economic Theory 2016/05, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Department of Economic Analysis (Economic Theory and Economic History).
    10. Marek Hudik, 2019. "Two interpretations of the rational choice theory and the relevance of behavioral critique," Rationality and Society, , vol. 31(4), pages 464-489, November.
    11. Floris Heukelom, 2007. "Kahneman and Tversky and the Origin of Behavioral Economics," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-003/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    12. Sandra Silva & Aurora Teixeira, 2009. "On the divergence of evolutionary research paths in the past 50 years: a comprehensive bibliometric account," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 605-642, October.
    13. Muñoz, Félix-Fernando & Encinar, María-Isabel & Cañibano, Carolina, 2011. "On the role of intentionality in evolutionary economic change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 193-203, September.
    14. Binswanger, Johannes, 2012. "Life cycle saving: Insights from the perspective of bounded rationality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 605-623.
    15. Genakos, Christos & Roumanias, Costas & Valletti, Tommaso, 2023. "Is having an expert “friend” enough? An analysis of consumer switching behavior in mobile telephony," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 359-372.
    16. Bruno S. Frey & Matthias Benz, 2004. "From Imperialism to Inspiration: A Survey of Economics and Psychology," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & Alain Marciano & Jochen Runde (ed.), The Elgar Companion To Economics and Philosophy, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Ashok Chakravarti, 2012. "Institutions, Economic Performance and the Visible Hand," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14751.
    18. Bogliacino, Francesco & Codagnone, Cristiano, 2021. "Microfoundations, behaviour, and evolution: Evidence from experiments," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 372-385.
    19. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2022. "The Conceptual Resilience of the Atomistic Individual in Mainstream Economic Rationality," MPRA Paper 112944, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Leigh Anderson & Kostas G. Stamoulis, 2006. "Applying Behavioural Economics to International Development Policy," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-24, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:qld:uq2004:478. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SOE IT (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/decuqau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.