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Growth and Cycles as a Struggle: Lotka–Volterra, Goodwin and Phillips

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Nonlinearities in Economics

Part of the book series: Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance ((DMEF,volume 29))

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe growth and cycles in economics as a struggle between capitalists and workers. We first present the Phillips curve (which statistically relates unemployment with the rate of change of nominal wages) and then the Goodwin model. The latter reinterprets, in economical terms, the dynamics of biological prey–predator struggle as described by the Lotka–Volterra model. The interaction between the two species reminded Goodwin about the Marxian conflict of class. Goodwin’s model explains cycles in those terms and will be tested in Chap. 19. The Kolmogorov generalization of the prey–predator model and further extensions of the Goodwin model conclude.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a detailed treatment of the subject, see Veneziani et al. [42].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bari, Department of Economics and Finance, Bari, Italy

    Giuseppe Orlando

  2. University of Camerino, School of Sciences and Technology, Camerino, Italy

    Giuseppe Orlando

  3. University of Bari, Department Mathematics, Bari, Italy

    Mario Sportelli

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  1. Giuseppe Orlando
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  2. Mario Sportelli
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Correspondence to Giuseppe Orlando .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics & Finance, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

    Giuseppe Orlando

  2. Technical University of Madrid Center for Biomedical Technology, Campus Montegancedo, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain

    Alexander N. Pisarchik

  3. Institute of Neuroinformatics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland

    Ruedi Stoop

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Orlando, G., Sportelli, M. (2021). Growth and Cycles as a Struggle: Lotka–Volterra, Goodwin and Phillips. In: Orlando, G., Pisarchik, A.N., Stoop, R. (eds) Nonlinearities in Economics. Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, vol 29. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70982-2_14

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