A (reactive) lattice-gas approach to economic cycles

A microscopic approach to macroeconomic features is intended. A model for macroeconomic behavior under heterogeneous spatial economic conditions is reviewed. A birth-death lattice gas model taking into account the influence of an economic environment on the fitness and concentration evolution of economic entities is numerically and analytically examined. The reaction-diffusion model can also be mapped onto a high-order logistic map. The role of the selection pressure along various dynamics with entity diffusion on a square symmetry lattice has been studied by Monte-Carlo simulation. The model leads to a sort of phase transition for the fitness gap as a function of the selection pressure and to cycles. The control parameter is a (scalar) "business plan". The business plan(s) allows for spin-offs or merging and enterprise survival evolution law(s), whence bifurcations, cycles and chaotic behavior. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.