24 research outputs found
Inequalities of wealth distribution in a conservative economy
We analyze a conservative market model for the competition among economic
agents in a close society. A minimum dynamics ensures that the poorest agent
has a chance to improve its economic welfare. After a transient, the system
self-organizes into a critical state where the wealth distribution have a
minimum threshold, with almost no agent below this poverty line, also, very few
extremely rich agents are stable in time. Above the poverty line the
distribution follows an exponential behavior. The local solution exhibits a low
Gini index, while the mean field solution of the model generates a wealth
distribution similar to welfare states like Sweden.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physica A, Proceedings of the VIII
LAWNP, Salvador, Brazil, 200
Economic exchanges in a stratified society: End of the middle class?
We study the effect of the social stratification on the wealth distribution
on a system of interacting economic agents that are constrained to interact
only within their own economic class. The economical mobility of the agents is
related to its success in exchange transactions. Different wealth distributions
are obtained as a function of the width of the economic class. We find a range
of widths in which the society is divided in two classes separated by a deep
gap that prevents further exchange between poor and rich agents. As a
consequence, the middle wealth class is eliminated. The high values of the Gini
indices obtained in these cases indicate a highly unequal society. On the other
hand, lower and higher widths induce lower Gini indices and a fairer wealth
distribution.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, to appear in Physica
Correlation between Risk Aversion and Wealth distribution
Different models of capital exchange among economic agents have been proposed
recently trying to explain the emergence of Pareto's wealth power law
distribution. One important factor to be considered is the existence of risk
aversion. In this paper we study a model where agents posses different levels
of risk aversion, going from uniform to a random distribution. In all cases the
risk aversion level for a given agent is constant during the simulation. While
for a uniform and constant risk aversion the system self-organizes in a
distribution that goes from an unfair ``one takes all'' distribution to a
Gaussian one, a random risk aversion can produce distributions going from
exponential to log-normal and power-law. Besides, interesting correlations
between wealth and risk aversion are found.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physica A, Proceedings of the VIII
LAWNP, Salvador, Brazil, 200
Wealth redistribution with finite resources
We present a simplified model for the exploitation of finite resources by
interacting agents, where each agent receives a random fraction of the
available resources. An extremal dynamics ensures that the poorest agent has a
chance to change its economic welfare. After a long transient, the system
self-organizes into a critical state that maximizes the average performance of
each participant. Our model exhibits a new kind of wealth condensation, where
very few extremely rich agents are stable in time and the rest stays in the
middle class.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX 4 styl
Charge reversal of colloidal particles
A theory is presented for the effective charge of colloidal particles in
suspensions containing multivalent counterions. It is shown that if colloids
are sufficiently strongly charged, the number of condensed multivalent
counterion can exceed the bare colloidal charge leading to charge reversal.
Charge renormalization in suspensions with multivalent counterions depends on a
subtle interplay between the solvation energies of the multivalent counterions
in the bulk and near the colloidal surface. We find that the effective charge
is {\it not} a monotonically decreasing function of the multivalent salt
concentration. Furthermore, contrary to the previous theories, it is found that
except at very low concentrations, monovalent salt hinders the charge reversal.
This conclusion is in agreement with the recent experiments and simulations
Emergence of communities on a coevolutive model of wealth interchange
We present a model in which we investigate the structure and evolution of a
random network that connects agents capable of exchanging wealth. Economic
interactions between neighbors can occur only if the difference between their
wealth is less than a threshold value that defines the width of the economic
classes. If the interchange of wealth cannot be done, agents are reconnected
with another randomly selected agent, allowing the network to evolve in time.
On each interaction there is a probability of favoring the poorer agent,
simulating the action of the government. We measure the Gini index, having real
world values attached to reality. Besides the network structure showed a very
close connection with the economic dynamic of the system.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
Entropy and equilibrium state of free market models
Many recent models of trade dynamics use the simple idea of wealth exchanges
among economic agents in order to obtain a stable or equilibrium distribution
of wealth among the agents. In particular, a plain analogy compares the wealth
in a society with the energy in a physical system, and the trade between agents
to the energy exchange between molecules during collisions. In physical
systems, the energy exchange among molecules leads to a state of equipartition
of the energy and to an equilibrium situation where the entropy is a maximum.
On the other hand, in the majority of exchange models, the system converges to
a very unequal condensed state, where one or a few agents concentrate all the
wealth of the society while the wide majority of agents shares zero or almost
zero fraction of the wealth. So, in those economic systems a minimum entropy
state is attained. We propose here an analytical model where we investigate the
effects of a particular class of economic exchanges that minimize the entropy.
By solving the model we discuss the conditions that can drive the system to a
state of minimum entropy, as well as the mechanisms to recover a kind of
equipartition of wealth
Testing the relevance of effective interaction potentials between highly charged colloids in suspension
Combining cell and Jellium model mean-field approaches, Monte Carlo together
with integral equation techniques, and finally more demanding many-colloid
mean-field computations, we investigate the thermodynamic behavior, pressure
and compressibility of highly charged colloidal dispersions, and at a more
microscopic level, the force distribution acting on the colloids. The
Kirkwood-Buff identity provides a useful probe to challenge the
self-consistency of an approximate effective screened Coulomb (Yukawa)
potential between colloids. Two effective parameter models are put to the test:
cell against renormalized Jellium models
Inelastically scattering particles and wealth distribution in an open economy
Using the analogy with inelastic granular gasses we introduce a model for
wealth exchange in society. The dynamics is governed by a kinetic equation,
which allows for self-similar solutions. The scaling function has a power-law
tail, the exponent being given by a transcendental equation. In the limit of
continuous trading, closed form of the wealth distribution is calculated
analytically.Comment: 8 pages 5 figure
Hysteresis in Pressure-Driven DNA Denaturation
In the past, a great deal of attention has been drawn to thermal driven denaturation processes. In recent years, however, the discovery of stress-induced denaturation, observed at the one-molecule level, has revealed new insights into the complex phenomena involved in the thermo-mechanics of DNA function. Understanding the effect of local pressure variations in DNA stability is thus an appealing topic. Such processes as cellular stress, dehydration, and changes in the ionic strength of the medium could explain local pressure changes that will affect the molecular mechanics of DNA and hence its stability. In this work, a theory that accounts for hysteresis in pressure-driven DNA denaturation is proposed. We here combine an irreversible thermodynamic approach with an equation of state based on the Poisson-Boltzmann cell model. The latter one provides a good description of the osmotic pressure over a wide range of DNA concentrations. The resulting theoretical framework predicts, in general, the process of denaturation and, in particular, hysteresis curves for a DNA sequence in terms of system parameters such as salt concentration, density of DNA molecules and temperature in addition to structural and configurational states of DNA. Furthermore, this formalism can be naturally extended to more complex situations, for example, in cases where the host medium is made up of asymmetric salts or in the description of the (helical-like) charge distribution along the DNA molecule. Moreover, since this study incorporates the effect of pressure through a thermodynamic analysis, much of what is known from temperature-driven experiments will shed light on the pressure-induced melting issue