Diversity, persistence and chaos in consumption patterns

Journal of Bioeconomics - Tập 11 - Trang 43-63 - 2009
Francisco Fatás-Villafranca1, Dulce Saura1, Francisco J. Vazquez2
1Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
2Universidad Autonoma Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Tóm tắt

In this paper we present a model from which discretionary consumption dynamics can be analyzed as global properties emerging from the endogenous transformation of a society inhabited by boundedly rational interactive consumers. By considering local and global interactions among consumers, we show that behavioral diversity plays a central role in the evolution of consumption patterns. The analysis of the model reveals the existence of a regime characterized by the persistence of different social standards, and a time evolution of the social distribution of behavioral patterns towards a heteroclinic cycle. In some cases the evolution seems to be chaotic, generating unpredictable, erratic dynamics of the aggregate social indices (average or social propensity for discretionary consumption).

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