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Two-Population Social Cycle Theories

Including a Symposium on New Directions in Sraffa Scholarship

ISBN: 978-1-78714-540-5, eISBN: 978-1-78714-539-9

Publication date: 16 December 2017

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore whether various true, endogenous social cycle theories share common patterns and characteristics.

We examine a number of prominent social theories describing cyclical patterns, and attempt to abstract an ideal type common to all of them, based on the idea of two populations disrupting each other and adjusting to the other’s disruptions.

At the core of such theories we typically find a variation of a two-population model. In these theories, cycles emerge when one of the populations seems to disrupt the other population’s plans, leading to recurring adjustments and disruptions that constitute the cycle.

Finding such commonalities in the world of theories can be useful for several reasons. For one thing, noticing that two theories share certain traits may help us understand each of them better. Furthermore, we show that agent-based modelers using modern object-oriented programming techniques can benefit from finding common patterns in theories.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We appreciate comments and support of Björn Urbansky, Alex Fink, André Casajus, Hannes Böhm, Bert Tieben, Gary Mongiovi, Sanford Ikeda, Mario Rizzo, Bruce Caldwell, Tony Lawson, Young Back Choi, and several anonymous referees. All remaining errors are ours.

Citation

Callahan, G. and Hoffmann, A. (2017), "Two-Population Social Cycle Theories", Including a Symposium on New Directions in Sraffa Scholarship (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 35B), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 303-321. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542017000035B012

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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