IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uta/papers/2020_05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Statistical Equilibrium Methods in Analytical Political Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Ellis Scharfenaker

Abstract

Economic systems produce robust statistical patterns in key sate variables including prices and incomes. Statistical equilibrium methods explain the distributional proper- ties of state variables as arising from specific institutional and behavioral postulates. Two 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellis Scharfenaker, 2020. "Statistical Equilibrium Methods in Analytical Political Economy," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2020_05, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:uta:papers:2020_05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://economics.utah.edu/research/publications/2020_05.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Foley Duncan K., 1994. "A Statistical Equilibrium Theory of Markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 321-345, April.
    2. Mantegna,Rosario N. & Stanley,H. Eugene, 2007. "Introduction to Econophysics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521039871, September.
    3. Ellis Scharfenaker, Markus P.A. Schneider, 2019. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Distribution of Income: New Evidence from Internal Census Bureau Data," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2019_08, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    4. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2011. "A new class of asymmetric exponential power densities with applications to economics and finance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 20(4), pages 991-1030, August.
    5. Shaikh, Anwar & Jacobo, Juan Esteban, 2020. "Economic Arbitrage and the Econophysics of Income Inequality," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 7(4), pages 299–315-2, December.
    6. Shaikh, Anwar & Papanikolaou, Nikolaos & Wiener, Noe, 2014. "Race, gender and the econophysics of income distribution in the USA," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 415(C), pages 54-60.
    7. Gallegati, Mauro & Keen, Steve & Lux, Thomas & Ormerod, Paul, 2006. "Worrying trends in econophysics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 370(1), pages 1-6.
    8. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2006. "Explaining the distribution of firm growth rates," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 235-256, June.
    9. Giulio Bottazzi & Le Li & Angelo Secchi, 2019. "Aggregate fluctuations and the distribution of firm growth rates," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(3), pages 635-656.
    10. Feng, Shuaizhang & Burkhauser, Richard V. & Butler, J.S., 2006. "Levels and Long-Term Trends in Earnings Inequality: Overcoming Current Population Survey Censoring Problems Using the GB2 Distribution," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 24, pages 57-62, January.
    11. Mundt, Philipp & Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Asymmetric competition, risk, and return distribution," BERG Working Paper Series 145, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    12. Mundt, Philipp & Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Asymmetric competition, risk, and return distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 29-32.
    13. Richard Burkhauser & Shuaizhang Feng & Stephen Jenkins & Jeff Larrimore, 2011. "Estimating trends in US income inequality using the Current Population Survey: the importance of controlling for censoring," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(3), pages 393-415, September.
    14. Ellis Scharfenaker & Duncan Foley, 2017. "Maximum Entropy Estimation of Statistical Equilibrium in Economic Quantal Response Models," Working Papers 1710, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics, revised May 2017.
    15. Garibaldi,Ubaldo & Scalas,Enrico, 2010. "Finitary Probabilistic Methods in Econophysics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521515597, September.
    16. Philipp Mundt & Simone Alfarano & Mishael Milakovic, 2016. "Gibrat’s Law Redux: think profitability instead of growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571.
    17. Sims, Christopher A., 2003. "Implications of rational inattention," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 665-690, April.
    18. Paul Davidson, 1996. "Reality and Economic Theory," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 479-508, July.
    19. Stephen P. Jenkins, 2009. "Distributionally‐Sensitive Inequality Indices And The Gb2 Income Distribution," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(2), pages 392-398, June.
    20. Jangho Yang, 2018. "Information Theoretic Approaches In Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 940-960, July.
    21. Mundt, Philipp & Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael, 2020. "Exploiting ergodicity in forecasts of corporate profitability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    22. Ellis Scharfenaker & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "A Statistical Equilibrium Approach to the Distribution of Profit Rates," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 465-499, July.
    23. Kurz,Heinz D. & Salvadori,Neri, 1997. "Theory of Production," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521588676, Enero-Abr.
    24. Markus P. A. Schneider, 2013. "Evidence for Multiple Labor Market Segments: An Entropic Analysis of US Earned Income, 1996-2007," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 22(2), pages 60-98, June.
    25. Follmer, Hans, 1974. "Random economies with many interacting agents," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 51-62, March.
    26. Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael & Irle, Albrecht & Kauschke, Jonas, 2012. "A statistical equilibrium model of competitive firms," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 136-149.
    27. Williams, Michael A. & Baek, Grace & Li, Yiyang & Park, Leslie Y. & Zhao, Wei, 2017. "Global evidence on the distribution of GDP growth rates," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 468(C), pages 750-758.
    28. McCauley,Joseph L., 2009. "Dynamics of Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521429627, September.
    29. Paulo L dos Santos & Ellis Scharfenaker, 2019. "Competition, self-organization, and social scaling—accounting for the observed distributions of Tobin’s q," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 28(6), pages 1587-1610.
    30. Soofi, E. S. & Retzer, J. J., 2002. "Information indices: unification and applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1-2), pages 17-40, March.
    31. J. Barkley Rosser, 2008. "Econophysics And Economic Complexity," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(05), pages 745-760.
    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. Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2020. "Implications of quantal response statistical equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    2. 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.
    3. repec:uta:papers:2023_02 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. 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.
    5. 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.

    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. Ellis Scharfenaker, 2022. "Statistical Equilibrium Methods In Analytical Political Economy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 276-309, April.
    2. Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2020. "Implications of quantal response statistical equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Ellis Scharfenaker, 2019. "Implications of Quantal Response Statistical Equilibrium," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2019_07, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    4. Ellis Scharfenaker, Markus P.A. Schneider, 2019. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Distribution of Income: New Evidence from Internal Census Bureau Data," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2019_08, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    5. Mundt, Philipp & Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael, 2020. "Exploiting ergodicity in forecasts of corporate profitability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. David Vidal-Tomás & Alba Ruiz-Buforn & Omar Blanco-Arroyo & Simone Alfarano, 2022. "A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Growth and Profit Rate Distribution: The Spanish Case," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, March.
    7. Ellis Scharfenaker & Markus P. A. Schneider, 2023. "Labor Market Segmentation and the Distribution of Income: New Evidence from Internal Census Bureau Data," Working Papers 23-41, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Jangho Yang, 2023. "Information‐theoretic model of induced technical change: Theory and empirics," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 2-39, February.
    9. Ellis Scharfenaker & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "A Statistical Equilibrium Approach to the Distribution of Profit Rates," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 465-499, July.
    10. Juan Melo, 2024. "Decentralized Finance and Local Public Goods: A Bayesian Maximum Entropy Model of School District Spending in the U.S," Papers 2404.17700, arXiv.org.
    11. Jangho Yang, 2018. "Information Theoretic Approaches In Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 940-960, July.
    12. Duncan K. Foley & Ellis Scharfenaker, 2024. "Bayesian Inference and the Principle of Maximum Entropy," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2024-03, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    13. Leila Davis & Joao Paulo A. de Souza, 2022. "Churning and profitability in the U.S. corporate sector," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 924-957, July.
    14. Paulo L. dos Santos, 2017. "The Principle of Social Scaling," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-9, December.
    15. Nikolaos Th. Chatzarakis, 2021. "Revisiting the role and consequences of Econophysics from a Marxian perspective," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 15(1), pages 45-68, June.
    16. Ivan Kitov & Oleg Kitov, 2015. "Gender income disparity in the USA: analysis and dynamic modelling," Papers 1510.02752, arXiv.org.
    17. Philipp Mundt & Simone Alfarano & Mishael Milaković, 2022. "Survival and the Ergodicity of Corporate Profitability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3726-3734, May.
    18. Mundt, Philipp & Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Asymmetric competition, risk, and return distribution," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 29-32.
    19. Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Autonomy of profit rate distribution and its dynamics from firm size measures: A statistical equilibrium approach," BERG Working Paper Series 146, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    20. Philipp Mundt & Simone Alfarano & Mishael Milakovic, 2016. "Gibrat’s Law Redux: think profitability instead of growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(4), pages 549-571.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General

    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:uta:papers:2020_05. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuutus.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.