Income Distribution Dynamics of Economic Systems An Econophysical Approach

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.

Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. Basics: 1. Economics and econophysics; 2. Measuring the income distribution; 3. Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century; Part II. Statistical Econophysics: 4. Stochastic dynamics of income and wealth; Part III. Economic Cycles: 5. Circular flows in economic systems; 6. Goodwin type distributive macrodynamics; Postface; References; Subject index; Author index.

Marcelo Byrro Ribeiro is Associate Professor at the Physics Institute of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. His research focuses on econophysics and complex systems, observational cosmology and the philosophy of science. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation.