Anatoly Kondratenko
Probabilistic Economic Theory

To Olga, Ksenia and Anastasia with love and gratitude

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

The monograph offered to the attention of readers is the second in the series [1, 2, 3] devoted to the development of probabilistic economic theory. This book presents principles of physical economics, new economic discipline primarily concerned in the book with the agent-based physical modeling of the market economic systems and eventually with the elaborating of probabilistic economic theory. At the heart of physical economics and probabilistic economic theory are the well-known cornerstone concepts of classical economics, in particular the subjective theory of value, such as regularity in the sequence of market phenomena and an interdependence of those, as well as key roles of individuals’ actions and social cooperation in the many-agent market processes. The main point of the concept of the physical modeling is that formal approaches and procedures of theoretical physics are used to describe these economic concepts. The obvious structural and dynamic analogy of the many-agent economic systems with the many-particle physical systems is basic to the formulation of fundamentals of the method of the agent-based physical modeling of the many-agent market economic systems in the formal economic space.

It is also vital to the elaboration of the main paradigm and eventually the five general principles of physical economics, as well as of probabilistic economic theory. The uncertainty and probability principle holds a central position among of them. All the principles provide the necessary background to physical economics that include such theories as classical economy, probability economics, and quantum economy. The book provides a unique source for learning and understanding all the concepts and principles of physical economics, together with the quantitative methods of calculating and analyzing the many-good, many-agent market economies. Conceptually, the book can be viewed as an introduction to economics for physicists, expressed by means of the terms and language of physics. This monograph may seem interesting to everyone who is engaged in research in economics, finance, econophysics or physical economics, as well as to professional investors and stock traders.

References:

1. Kondratenko A.V. Physical Modeling of Economic Systems. Classical and Quantum Economies. Novosibirsk: Nauka (Science), 2005.

2. Kondratenko A.V.  Probabilistic Economic Theory. Novosibirsk: Nauka (Science), 2015.

3. Kondratenko A.V.  Probabilistic Theory of Stock Exchanges. Novosibirsk: Nauka (Science), 2021.

PREFACE

I have the pleasure of bringing to the reader’s notice a book that expounds on the principles of physical economics, and more specifically, probabilistic economic theory. In the broad sense, physical economics is a relatively new economic discipline concerned with the study of economic phenomena from the point of view of physics. More exactly, it is through such economic investigations that we explore methods of theoretical physics previously developed in that discipline for solving formally similar problems. Depending on the statement of the economic problem under study, those can be mechanical, statistical, thermodynamic or other methods. For this reason, there are several corresponding variants of presentation of physical economics in the literature depending on the methods applied. The two books [1, 2] can be cited as an example of the presentation of physical economics from the point of view of statistical physics. It is evident that these books primarily deal with open financial markets with huge numbers of market agents, where statistical effects obviously play one of the leading roles. The key review [3] presents a phenomenological version of physical economics in terms of classical mechanics.

As far as my book is concerned, I am interested here mainly in ordinary economies with various markets of goods and commodities. In contrast to financial markets, I believe both the deterministic and probabilistic effects to play dominant roles in such market economies. From the one side, the market agent pursues, as a rule, definite aims and explores standard work methods on the markets that, to some extent, lead to determinism on the markets. From the other side, the market agents are generally forced to work under uncertain market conditions. It means that we always have to take into account in the theory that uncertainty permanently accompanies all of the market agents’ important decisions. There is no escaping the conclusion that all significant market phenomena have a probabilistic nature, too. Therefore, I study the many-agent market economic systems in this book from the point of view of classical and quantum mechanics which have been elaborated through physics to describe the deterministic and probabilistic effects in the many-particle physical systems. For this reason, I treat the term physical economics in the book in the narrow sense of this concept, from the point of view of classical and quantum mechanics of the many-particle systems. More exactly, physical economics here is a study of the formal agent-based physical models of the market economic systems. Finally, I define physical economics here primarily as the science of the agent-based physical modeling of the market economic systems, with the aid of methods and approaches worked out earlier in classical and quantum mechanics. When applying ideas of quantum mechanics to the many-agent economic systems, we inevitably obtain probabilistic economic theory which is understood in this book as most of physical economics. Note that all the physical economic models here are also agent-based ones. I think that there is great advantage to applying the agent-based approach of physical modeling because it makes it possible at the micro level, i.e., at the level of separate agents, to find a basis for explaining economic phenomena at the macro level, i.e., at the level of the whole economy. Analogously, quantum mechanics first explained the behavior of the separate electron in the deep pit. At the time, it undertook the explanation of the macro effects and calculation of macro quantities on the basis of the knowledge obtained there.

In essence, a new physical economic picture of the market world is drawn in the book. There is a huge number of formulas in it, and practically none of them are borrowed from economic literature. However, they all have their analogues in the picture of the physical world, expressed in theoretical physics or, even more accurately, in classical and quantum mechanics.

Physical economics is a proper economic discipline, since, in contrast to physics, the objects of its studies are the actions of real subjects of the economy but not the real subjects themselves. It addresses actions of real people in the real economic world, first of all; of buyers and sellers on the markets, focused on battling for their material interests and simultaneously achieving mutually advantageous cooperation. I follow the idea of classical economic theory in which the economy is simultaneously both the product and the process of human action. Moreover, in contrast to the physical world, both the structure of the economy as well as forms and methods of human action continuously and rapidly vary with time as a result of the general human evolution, as well as scientific and technical progress. Therefore, the economic laws should be derived from the study of practical human activities, but in no way by means of fitting of the known physical laws to the economic world. But the situation is reversed if we want to use theoretical methods of physics in search of the economic laws and to develop quantitative economic theories. The point is that physics has elaborated the enormous number of mathematical methods and apparatuses that describe the structure and dynamics of diverse physical systems, from the simple to the complex. And, there is nothing that would forbid us fruitfully applying these formal mathematical methods in economics.

I emphasize that the ideas, concepts and principles of classical economic theory constitute the foundation of physical economics in my understanding, and the approaches and methods of theoretical physics play here the role of the second plan. The task of these theoretical instruments is to give the adequate mathematical description of these ideas, concepts and principles. These help create the formal framework of the theory, as well as develop mathematical apparatus for describing the structure and behavior of market economies. Why is this possible? The point is that, in structure and properties, the many-agent market economic systems are quite similar to the many-particle physical systems. Take, for example, the polyatomic molecules. Indeed:

1. Markets consist of agents. Molecules consist of atoms.

2. Agents interact between themselves. Atoms interact between themselves.

3. Everything that markets do, the interacting agents do. Everything that molecules do, the interacting atoms do.

4. Dynamics of markets are determined by a principle of maximization (e.g. the trade maximization principle). Dynamics of molecules is determined by a principle of maximization (e.g. the least action principle).

5. Uncertainty and probability is an inherent important property of the market behavior. The same is valid for dynamics of molecules.

And this is still far from a complete enumeration of coincidences and analogies between the economic and physical systems.

It is widely-known that presently, advanced mathematical methods are applied in describing the dynamics of complex economic systems much less frequently than in physics. As far as the difference in the level of the penetration of formal mathematical methods into economics and physics is concerned, it is possible with reasonable caution to assert that this difference does not lie in the fact that in principle, mathematics cannot be widely used in economics by its very nature. Instead, physics has proven to be the more developed science mathematically in modern times for a variety of historical and technological reasons. This has been the situation for the past 300 years. Beautiful mathematical models have been created in physics during this time frame to describe dynamic phenomena in many-particle systems. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for economic theory. It is obvious to me that, things being as they are, the correct conclusion for us now must not be to preserve the status quo. Nor should economists urgently develop their own unique mathematical calculations to describe economic phenomena, independent of physics. After all, why re-invent the wheel? All that is needed is to make use of some of the most salient and staggering achievements of humanity at the present time by borrowing from theoretical physics. These can be put to use for the good of the development of economic science and the global economy. This book is one of the many steps in the right direction along the proper road. Hopefully I am not wrong, although there is always that chance. There is no doubt that it will be a long road to this accomplishment, and most certainly not a fast one.

I am well aware that the very idea of using methods of theoretical physics, especially quantum mechanics, for describing economic phenomena must cause a healthy dose of skepticism from the physicists. Therefore, I emphasize that the discussion deals with the fact that only the mathematic framework of theoretical models of the respective physical systems are transferred to the physical economic models.

I incorporate into economics only the formal structural aspects of physical theories. First of all are the equations of motion for the many-particle systems, which just by themselves must not be too rigidly attached to real physical microscopic objects. Equations – they are just equations and nothing more, and if they are a beneficial descriptive tool in another science, why not make use of them? I repeat that this is just a useful mathematical object which can and should be used as a theoretical tool where it can provide benefit. For instance, in quantum mechanics wave functions and the Schrödinger equations have been successfully used for the incorporation of the uncertainty and probability principle into physics. Why, then, can we not then apply the same mathematical apparatus to the analogous uncertainty and probability principle in economic theory for purposes of mathematical description?

It is obvious that this is only an initial approximation to reality. But we are talking about modeling economic systems, and models are only models, giving only an approximate shape to the object being modeled. My physical models of economic systems also do not pretend that they are complete and precise; they can give only the approximate patterns of our market economic world, only the specific stage in our understanding of the real economic world transposed into the language of mathematics. A physical economic model is nothing other than a certain ideal, imagined construction, aimed at explaining one or more aspects of the studied phenomenon. The question is not whether it is correct or not, but whether it is useful in helping to reach a true understanding of the real economic world. Nothing more. I think that by means of this approach, some insight into the important market economy phenomena has been gained in this study.

Ten years ago I published the small book “Physical Modeling of Economic Systems: The Classical and Quantum Economies” [4]. It was my first attempt to develop an economic theory ab initio, and constructed an axiomatic basis of the theory from a limited set of first principles. The basic hallmarks of the theory that made it probabilistic and quantitative are as follows.

First. A careful, step-by-step development of the market agent-based physical economic models, where market agents play a main role in market phenomena.

Second. The complete integration of uncertainty and probability perspectives throughout the theory.

Third. A unifying, analytic framework that uses equations of motion in the formal price economic space to describe economy evolution in time.

For the last ten years, I have continually strived to advance the theory and to make it more clear and justified. In particular, for this purpose I developed the special mathematical apparatus, which is referred to in the book as probability economics. Still, I considerably advanced the theory by means of taking into consideration quantities of market goods as independent variables along with their prices. Due to this innovation, the economic price space was expanded up to the economic price-quantity space. During this time I also developed mathematical apparatus for describing the many-good, many-agent market economies. Despite the fact that achievements and expansions of theory mentioned above are very substantial, my new book carries the title “Probabilistic Economic Theory” and is, in essence, the second extended edition of my first book, in which I presented only very beginnings of the method of the agent-based physical modeling of economic systems and the basics of probabilistic economic theory.

In this book, the fundamental concepts of economic theory are exposed to critical rethinking for the purpose of answering such eternal questions of economic theory such as those regarding supply and demand, as well as market price and market force, market process and market equilibrium, invisible hand of market etc. I look at how all these concepts should be incorporated into economic theory and conveyed quantitatively in the same language in which physicists, chemists and other professionals in the so-called natural sciences present their theories, i.e., in the language of mathematics. In the book I presented maximally simplified models, in which only the most important special features and details of work of markets are described by means of maximally simplified mathematical apparatus. Let us stress here that the main aim of such basic models is only to reveal the essence of the studied phenomenon, not more. After this is accomplished, we can then develop the models further, including other, more sophisticated effects within them. This is the only true way of modeling science. Therefore, Chapters I–VIII are easily understood by first-year economics students. But the subsequent Chapters IX and X require an existing, thorough knowledge of physics, somewhere around the level of upper year physics courses. They only need have the slightest grasp of economic phenomena and laws of human action in the market economy, obtained, for example, in the course of reading the first chapters of this book. Generally, this book can be considered as an introduction into economics, written for physicists in standard physics terminology. The book, by the way, was initially taught as a set of lectures on economics for physics department students. If, after reading this book, a physics student has the impression that the presented physical economic models are quite simple and understandable, then I have solved a personal challenge. Indeed, I feel that the more complex the studied systems are and the phenomena within them, the simpler the model must be, taking into consideration only those effects which are of prime importance for describing the studied phenomena.

The book, as noted above, is the collection of lectures, each of which is called to answer one or several questions given above. The genre of lecture (or essay) is selected for the purpose of concentrating on the compact, clear presentation of physical economics. In it I have used a whole series of new ideas, concepts and notions for the economic theory, which arise from theoretical physics. I believe I have succeeded in avoiding the necessity of making numerous surveys and references, the like of which can be found in most other textbooks on economics and economic history. Therefore, references in the book are made only to those sources which were actually used for the fulfillment of studies, the development of models, and writing of the book. To provide convenience to students in lectures, figures and fragments of the text are reproduced several times in some chapters.

It should be emphasized once more that I borrowed ideas, concepts and notions from physics, many of which are completely consistent with the discoveries of the classical economic theories of the 19th century, the first of which being the subjective theory of value. This concerns first and foremost such important milestones in the development of classical economic theory as [5]:

1. Regularity in the sequence of market economic phenomena.

2. Exclusive and dominant roles of market agents in the market phenomena.

3. Uncertainty of the future and the probabilistic nature of all market agents’ decisions.

4. Social cooperation of market agents etc.

All these aspects of human economic activities have an exceptionally important effect on market processes and determine the course of economic development. But any formal methods of providing an adequate formal description of these economic phenomena and processes at a strict mathematical level in economic theory, until now, have been absent. Necessity and expediency of borrowing by economics from physics is substantiated by the fact that theoretical physics already developed sophisticated mathematical methods to incorporate analogous concepts into formal physical models. The method of equations of motion was first, and uses systems of differential equations of the 1st and 2nd orders, but economic theory still did not.

I would like to stress here that this creative process of the transfer of the formal methods of physics into classical economic theory presents the main point of the concept of the agent-based physical modeling of the economic systems and physical economics as a whole. One can say that, in essence, physical economics is first and foremost the mathematical apparatus of classical economic theory at the contemporary level of its development. This mathematical apparatus is borrowed from theoretical physics and has therefore practically nothing to do with the mathematical apparatus of neoclassical economics.

In order not to overload the text of the book by the descriptions of the known concepts of classical economic theory upon which I rested in this investigation, I make use of complete quotations from the fundamental monograph of Ludwig von Mises [5] as epigraphs to each part and chapter of the book, with two exceptions. This method allowed me to avoid the mixing of completely different styles of the presentation in the book, which could hinder the perception of the text by readers. This is very important for me, since I have attempted to not to disappoint the readers, and to convince them of how it is fruitful to make use of achievements in theoretical physics for the development of economics. The point is not in the book’s detail, but rather in its broader concept of agent-based physical modeling of economic systems, which, in my view, has enormous potential. Here lies, I think, a new and enormous field for investigation, in which an abundant harvest will be gathered for many decades yet to come. I hope that the readers will obtain a certain benefit from the acquaintance with this new physical economic perspective for economic theory.

References

1. Rosario N. Mantegna, Eugene H. Stanley. An Introduction to Econophysics: Correlations and Complexity in Finance. Cambridge University Press, 1999.

2. Peter Richmond, Jürgen Mimkes, and Stefan Hutzler. Econophysics and Physical Economics. Oxford University Press, 2013.

3. D.S. Chernavsky, N.I. Starkov, A.V. Shcherbakov. On some problems of physical economics. UFN, Vol. 172, N 9, pp. 1046–1066, 2002.

4. A.V. Kondratenko. Physical Modeling of Economic Systems. Classical and Quantum Economies. Nauka (Science): Novosibirsk, 2005.

5. Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Yale University, 1949.

Anatoly Kondratenko

Novosibirsk, 2015

INTRODUCTION. Probabilistic Economic Theory

“The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybody’s actions aim at the satisfaction of other people’s needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens. Everybody, on the other hand, is served by his fellow citizens. Everybody is both a means and an end in himself, an ultimate end for himself and a means to other people in their endeavors to attain their own ends.

This system is steered by the market. The market directs the individual's activities into those channels in which he best serves the wants of his fellow men. There is in the operation of the market no compulsion and coercion. The state, the social apparatus of coercion and compulsion, does not interfere with the market and with the citizens’ activities directed by the market. It employs its power to beat people into submission solely for the prevention of actions destructive to the preservation and the smooth operation of the market economy. It protects the individual's life, health, and property against violent or fraudulent aggression on the part of domestic gangsters and external foes. Thus the state creates and preserves the environment in which the market economy can safely operate… Each man is free; nobody is subject to a despot. Of his own accord the individual integrates himself into the cooperative system. The market directs him and reveals to him in what way he can best promote his own welfare as well as that of other people. The market is supreme. The market alone puts the whole social system in order and provides it with sense and meaning”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 243

Exactly how is our economic market world arranged at the deepest micro level, at the level of individuals and businesses, buyers and sellers on markets? How does the market economy function? According to what laws and rules do people make decisions about price and quantity of bought and sold goods? How does a market price eventually become established, and how can one and the same volume of goods be sold regularly each year at this price on the market? How and why does this regularity change over the course of time, and how and why do markets grow or fall? We attempt to answer these and many other similar questions in this book within the framework of a new economic discipline, namely, physical economics.

In general terms, at the conceptual or descriptive level, the answers to these questions are known from classical economic theory. They are obtained with the aid of the logical method of economic theory and they are given in this book in epigraph form to the parts and the chapters. These answers represent by themselves extensive quotations from the fundamental work of Ludwig von Mises [1]. But other questions agitate us more. Where can we search for the answers in this book, and how can all these answers of classical economic theory be expressed in terms of the natural exact sciences, i.e., in mathematical language? Therefore, in the book we attempt to develop quantitative methods of calculation for economic systems, as well as their structure and dynamics, which would make it possible to speak about the further development of quantitative economic theory.

Contemporary, real, economy is a complex dynamic system. It is therefore possible and necessary to attack the problem of studying its structure and dynamics in different ways and from different points of view. Our point of view is such that we look at the economy primarily as a collection of an enormous number of reasonably thinking and actively acting people, each of them “is not only homo sapiens, but no less homo agents” [1] simultaneously. To solve their problems and achieve their goals, these people are forced to constantly make important decisions for themselves about production, purchase and sale of goods, organization of logistics and marketing, control of other people, etc. As reasonable people, they attempt to make specific decisions that would bring more benefit and a large return for their efforts. Such rational decisions can be made only on the basis of having sufficient information regarding factors that concern their interests Therefore, people are constantly searching for and processing new, relevant market information. But we never possess completely adequate information about the things interesting us in view of the time constraints at our disposal, or in view of our obviously finite mental and technical abilities. It is our deep belief that human nature, and also the nature of market economic systems, is such that all our market decisions can only be approximate. In more technical terms, they can only be of a probabilistic nature. Furthermore, according to our vision of the market economy, all economic processes and phenomena are nothing more than the result of the actions of all players in the economy. There seems to be no escaping the conclusion that all economic processes and phenomena in the market economy are, to some extent, also probabilistic by their nature. Hence, there is only one step prior to obtaining the fundamental conclusion that the market economy is not simply a complex dynamic, but that it is still probabilistic [2–5]. Therefore, in order to be able to give a sufficiently complete description of such complex probabilistic systems, adequate economic theory must also be probabilistic to a considerable extent. For this, it is necessary to incorporate into the classical economic theory the uncertainty, as well as probability at the appropriate mathematical level, i.e., to develop probabilistic economic theory adequately in relation to the contemporary economic reality. Specifically, the present study is devoted mainly to this purpose.

In this book we have limited ourselves to the study of the probabilistic aspects of functioning markets in a sufficiently free market economy. More accurately, we study the details of supply and demand, as well as the mechanisms of the formation of prices and the establishment of equilibrium in the markets. Emphasis is given to the description of probabilistic nature of these fundamental market categories and notions. All these market concepts have been the subject of intensive investigations and critical rethinking in the book within the framework of the main paradigm of physical economics, which can be briefly formulated as follows.

All markets consist of people, buyers of some goods and sellers of other goods, simultaneously. Everything that the markets do, these people do, and it is precisely the action of all these people in the market that determine all results of the work of that market [1]. We have defined five fundamental or general principles of physical economics (and probabilistic economic theory naturally): the cooperation-oriented agent principle, the institutional and environmental principle, the dynamic and evolutionary principle, the market-based trade maximization principle, and, finally, the uncertainty and probability principle. These determine, in essence, the work of markets in our physical economic models. The cooperation-oriented agent principle speaks about the unique moving role of the market agents and significant role of social cooperation in modern market economy. The institutional and environmental principle expresses the fact that the interaction of agents with the various institutions and external environment must be taken into account simultaneously with the interaction of the agents with each other. The dynamic and evolutionary principle reflects the fact that the market behavior has, to certain extent, a deterministic character and consequently can be described with the aid of the equations of motion. The market-based trade maximization principle determines the direction of the motion of the free market as a whole under the influence of internal market forces. The uncertainty and probability principle tell us that all market phenomena are probabilistic in nature and thus help us to understand what a mathematical apparatus must do in order to adequately describe market behavior under uncertain conditions. We refer to the appropriate approach to as probabilistic economic theory, and since this theory is built by analogy with the “probabilistic physical theory” (quantum mechanics) of many-particle systems, we designated it more precisely as quantum economy [4]. Since the picture of the market economic world is built in physical economics at the micro level in approximately the same way as in physics, there is, in principle, a possibility of developing the quantitative methods of calculating the market economies by analogy with the calculation methods in physics. Consequently, it becomes possible to fruitfully use natural science concepts and speak natural science language to describe and analyze market structures and dynamics. In this book, we widely explore these great possibilities that help us to look at economic reality from the natural science points of view and discover new perspectives of economic theory for investigation and development.

In conclusion, it is natural that the direct mechanical transfer of methods and concepts of physics into the economic theory would be impossible. We only can accurately borrow and transfer general concepts and formal methods, since economic and physical phenomena are principally different in their essence and content. In this book and within the framework of this approach, the basic concepts and general principles of physical economics are developed and described. On this basis, we have developed the complex of the principally new quantitative methods of calculation and analysis of many-good, many-agent market economies that we named probabilistic economic theory.

References

1. Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Yale University, 1949.

2. Emmanual Farjoun and Moshé Machover. Laws of Chaos: a Probabilistic Approach to Political Economy. Verso, London, 1983).

3. Philip Ball. Physical Modelling of Human Social Systems. Complexus 2003; 1:190–206.

4. A.V. Kondratenko. Physical Modeling of Economic Systems. Classical and Quantum Economies. Nauka (Science): Novosibirsk, 2005.

5. K.K. Val’tukh. Development of a Probabilistic Economic Theory. Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2008, Vol. 98, N 1, p. 51–63.

PART A. The Agent-Based Physical Modeling of Market Economic Systems

“In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 6

CHAPTER I. Fundamentals of the Method of Agent-Based Physical Modeling

“For a social collective has no existence and reality outside of the individual members’ actions. The life of a collective is lived in the actions of the individuals constituting its body. There is no social collective conceivable which is not operative in the actions of some individuals. The reality of a social integer consists in its directing and releasing definite actions on the part of individuals. Thus the way to a cognition of collective wholes is through an analysis of the individuals’ actions”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 43

“The whole market economy is a big exchange or market place, as it were. At any instant all those transactions take place which the parties are ready to enter into at the realizable price. New sales can be effected only when the valuations of at least one of the parties have changed”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 231

PREVIEW. What is the Main Point of the Concept of Agent-Based Physical Modeling?

The concept of agent-based physical modeling is based on taking the known, fundamental concepts of classical economic theory, and uniting and eventually converting them into probabilistic economic theory. It is described with the help of formal approaches and methods borrowed from theoretical physics, beginning with the method of equations of motion for many-particle physical systems. The role of the theoretical physics methods is only to provide the framework for physical economics and eventually for probabilistic economic theory. This theory is developed step-by-step with the creation of the more complicated models, each subsequent step building on the last. It includes and increases the number of concepts and principles of physical economics, and reflects on one or more of several fundamental features of the market economy. The first one, the cooperation-oriented agent principle, is the cornerstone of all the physical economic models which holds that all market phenomena have their origins in agents’ actions. To put it differently, since the action of the market as a whole is a result of the actions of all the market agents and nothing other, the market agents and their actions must be at the basis of the physical economic models. In other words, according to the agent principle, all market phenomena have their origins in agents’ actions.

1. The Concept of Agent-Based Physical Modeling

It is well-known that the method of conceptual modeling of economic systems has long and widely been used in economic theory. According to the new physical economic mode of thought, the main requirement for such economic models, which determines their basic predestination, is skill, with which several important basic concepts and principles must harmoniously, competently and simultaneously be incorporated into the theory. The latter is very important since, by the definition of the problem, all concepts and principles play roles that compare their significance in the economy under study.

Despite their simplicity, the first and most well-known conceptual theories of neoclassical economics, such as supply and demand (S&D below), contributed significantly to economic science. They helped economists to better understand the basic elements of the economic world, and they gave rise to graphic conceptualizations that aided the transfer of this knowledge to others, especially students. Early on, conceptual modeling had, and continues to have, great significance. This is also the case in Austrian economics, where it bears the name method of imaginable constructions and it is considered as the basic method in economic inquires. In theoretical physics, it is not acceptable to accentuate attention on the use of models, since theoretical physics itself can rightfully be considered as the conceptual mathematical modeling of physical systems. Specifically, in theoretical physics, the most advanced methods of theoretical modeling of complex systems have been developed. Moreover, there is the required inclination towards conducting the quantitative numerical, and, as precisely as possible, calculations of structure and properties of these models. The deep structural and dynamic analogies between the many-particle physical systems and the many-agent economic systems are exploited in this book to transfer concepts and analytical methods from theoretical physics to economics.

2. The Main Paradigm of Physical Economics

For the achievement of larger clarity, let us again mention the main idea in physical economics regarding the use of analogies with physics. For this purpose, we once more express the thought of the main paradigm of physical economics as follows: physical systems consist of atoms. As was well known long ago, all that the physical systems do, atoms do. Market systems consist of market agents, buyers and sellers. And it is also known that all that the markets do, the market agents do. Both the physical and market economic systems are the complex dynamic systems, whose dynamics are determined by interaction between the elements of the system and their interaction with the environment in the widest sense of this notion. In our view, the very existence of such structural and dynamic similarity gives rise to the possibility, in principle, of building formal, many-agent physical economic models by analogy with the theoretical models of the many-particle physical systems, for example, of polyatomic molecules. It is here that the physical economic model could include all basic concepts and principles which define the work of the economy. As a result, it could sufficiently, simply, and adequately describe both the main structural features and principal dynamic characteristics of the economy being modeled, a target at which this study is precisely aimed, since no model can immediately describe everything completely. The study of economic systems by means of physical modeling must be carried out gradually, step by step, incorporating into the model ever finer effects and properties in the way that theoretical physics has done over the course of theoretical studies of complex physical systems. Thus, physical economics borrows formal approaches and model structures from theoretical physics. In other words, physical economics uses the very body or framework of the theoretical models of the many-particle systems, but not the results of theoretical studies of the concrete real physical systems. Namely this is the essence of physical modeling of economic systems. In conclusion, the obvious structural and dynamic analogy of the many-agent economic systems with the many-particle physical systems is basic to the formulation of fundamentals of the method of the agent-based physical modeling of the many-agent market economic systems in the formal economic space, and eventually, of the five general principles of physical economics as well as probabilistic economic theory.

3. The Axioms and Principles of Physical Economics

Generally speaking, our attitude towards the problem of adequate quantitative description of the agent behavior in the market as well as market S&D and price formation is based on the two rather simple axioms of a very general character.

1. The Agent Identity Axiom.

All market agents are the same, only the supplies and demands they have different. The axiom says that all market agents share common properties, depending primarily on agent revenues and expenses, or more strictly, on supply and demand (S&D below) for traded goods and services. It is these agents’ S&D that mainly determine the rational economic behavior of agents on the markets, and eventually the behavior of the whole markets. It shows a possibility of building rather common and accurate models of behavior of agents in the market, and hence the total market as a whole. It sets us on the right track for the identification and examination of the common properties in the behavior of market agents that ensure appearance of the common patterns and regularities in the course of market processes. It gives us the ability to build theoretical economic models on a fairly high scientific level by using physical and mathematical methods, which is the primary goal of physical economics and economic theory in general. We are certain that only these types of common market phenomena and processes are rightly a matter for exact scientific economic enquiry. In other words, it focuses us on building economics as an exact science in the image and after the likeness of the natural sciences.

2. The Agent Distinction Axiom.

All market agents are distinguished. The second axiom works when the first axiom fails. Thus, it defines those areas and aspects of the agents’ behavior on the markets that are the subject of the studies of other sciences of more applied nature, such as marketing, behavioral science, managerial economics, psychology, policy, etc. In other words, these social sciences are concerned with the specific nuances and peculiarities in the behavior of concrete people, agents and communities in different markets and situations, etc.

Let us stress that in economics we do not study real people, but rather the real actions of these people on markets. The people can be different but market decisions and actions of these people can be the same, depending primarily on their supplies and demands on markets. It is this fact that lies in the background of the agent identity axiom.

Hence, we will sum up everything we have stated above in the form of the five general principles of physical economics and probabilistic economic theory as follows:

1. The Cooperation-Oriented Agent Principle.

The most important concept concerning markets is as follows: every market consists of market agents, buyers and sellers, all strongly interacting with each other. There are never any mysterious forces in markets. Everything that markets do, the cooperation-oriented market agents do, and therefore only the cooperation-oriented, agent-based models can provide the reasonable and justified foundation for any modern economic theory.

2. The Institutional and Environmental Principle.

Markets are never completely closed and free; all the market agents are under continuous influences and under such external institutional and environmental forces and factors as states, institutions, other markets and economies, natural and technogenic phenomena, etc. The influences, exerted by each of these forces and factors on the structure of market prices and on the market behavior, can be completely compared with the effect from inter-agent interactions. Moreover, the action of strong external institutional and environmental factors can significantly hamper the effective work of market mechanisms and even practically suppress it in a way that results in the breakdown of the market’s invisible hand concept, well-known in classical economics. Therefore, the influence of institutional, environmental and other external factors must be adequately taken into account in the models, as well as simultaneously with the inter-agent interactions.

3. The Dynamic and Evolutionary Principle.

Markets are complex dynamic systems; all the market agents are in perpetual motion in search of profitable deals with each other for the sale or purchase of goods. Buyers tend to buy as cheaply as possible, and sellers want to obtain the highest possible prices. Mathematically, we can describe this time-dependent dynamic and evolutionary market process as motion in the price – quantity economic space of market agents acting in accordance with objective economic laws. Therefore, this motion has a deterministic character to some extent. This motion can and must be approximately described with the help of equations of motion;

4. The Market-Based Trade Maximization Principle.

On relatively free markets, the buyers and sellers consciously and deliberately enter into transactions of buying and selling with each other, since they make deals only under conditions in which they obtain the portion of profit that suits each of them. It is in no way compulsory that they aspire to maximize their profit in each concluded transaction, since they understand that the transactions can only be mutually beneficial. But they do attempt to increase their profit via the conclusion of a maximally possible quantity of such mutually beneficial transactions. Thus, it is possible to assert that the market as a whole strives for the largest possible volume of trade during the specific period of time. Consequently, we can make the conclusion that market dynamics can approximately be described and even approximate equations of motion for the market agents can be derived in turn by means of applying the market-based trade maximization principle to the whole economic system (more exactly, this principle is system-based).

5. The Uncertainty and Probability Principle.

Uncertainty and probability are essential parts of human action in markets. This is caused by the nature of human reasoning, as well as the fundamental human inability to accurately predict a future state of the markets. Furthermore, market outcome is the result of the actions of multiple agents, and no market is ever completely closed and free. For these reasons, all market processes are probabilistic by nature too, and an adequate description of all the market processes needs to apply probabilistic approaches and models in the economic price – quantity space. The uncertainty law results from this principle.

We assume that, from one side, these five general principles are capable of sufficiently and adequately describing the basic structural and dynamic properties of market economic systems and the market processes within them. From other side, they can be regarded as the basic pillars of physical economics, which carry on constructing step-by-step the bodies or frameworks of our physical economic models. These principles and their substantiation will be repeatedly discussed in more detail and step-by-step in this book. Concluding, let us stress that new probabilistic economic theory has been built on the basis of these principles in this book.

4. The Classical Economies

4.1. The Two-Agent Market Economies

As mentioned previously, below we will sequentially introduce into the theory the new concepts of physical modeling. They will be the building blocks in the construction of the body or framework of our models, which will also be filled step-by-step with new, concrete contents. We will start with the construction of the simplest physical economic models. In this paragraph we will create this with the use of analogies and formal methods of classical mechanics. These physical economic models will be referred to as the classical economies. Naturally in construction, we will use only first four principles, since only they have analogues in classical mechanics.

As we know, market agents are the buyers and sellers of goods and commodities, and as such are the major players in the market economy. They strongly interact with each other and with the institutions and the market’s external environment including other market economies. They continuously make decisions concerning the prices and quantities of good, and buy or sell those in the market. All the market agents’ actions govern the outcome of the market, which is the essence of the agent principle. We believe the agents to behave to a certain extent in a deterministic way, striving to achieve their definite market goals. This means that the behavior of market agents is, in turn, governed by the strict the economic laws in the market. The fact that these laws have until now been of a descriptive nature in classical economic theory, and they have not yet been expressed in a precise mathematic language, is not of key importance in this case. What is really important is that we believe all the market agents to act according to the economic laws of social cooperation that can be approximately described with the help of the market-based trade maximization principle.

Every market agent acts in the market in accordance with the rule of obtaining maximum profit, benefit, or some other criterion of optimality. In this respect, we believe the many-agent market economic systems to resemble the physical many-particle systems where all the particles interact and move in physical space. This is also in accordance with the same system-based maximization principle, such as the least action principle in classical mechanics which is applied to the whole physical system under study. The analogous situation exists in quantum mechanics (see below in the Part F).

The main drive of our research was to take the opportunity to create dynamic physical models for market economic systems. We construct these physical economic models by analogy with physics, or more precisely by analogy with theoretical models of the physical systems, consisting of formal interacting particles in formal external fields or external environments [1]. Let us stress that these particles are fictitious; they do not really exist in nature. Therefore, the physical systems mentioned above are also fictitious and they do not exist in nature either. They are indeed only imagined constructions and served simply as patterns for constructing the physical economic models. Thus, these physical economic models consist of the economic subsystem, or simply the economy or the market. It contains a certain number of buyers and sellers, as well as its institutional and external environment with certain interactions between market agents, and between the market agents and the market institutional and external environment. Moreover, according to the dynamic and evolutionary principle we assume that equations of motion, derived in physics for physical systems in the physical space, can be creatively used to construct approximate equations of motion for the corresponding physical models of economic systems in the particular formal economic spaces.

Let us briefly give the following reasons to substantiate such an ab initio approach for the one-good, one-buyer, and one-seller market economy. Let price functions p₁D (t) and p₁S (t) designate desired good prices of the buyer and seller, respectively, set out by the agents during the negotiations between them at a certain moment in time t. Analogously, by means of the quantity functions q₁D (t) and q₁S (t) we will designate the desired good quantities set out by the buyer and the seller during the negotiations in the market. Below, for brevity, we will refer to these desired values as the price and quantity quotations, which can or cannot be publicly declared by the buyer and the seller, depending on the established rules of work on the market. Note that the setting out of these quotations by the market agents is the essence of the most important market phenomenon in classical economic theory, namely the market process leading eventually to the concrete acts of choices of the market agents, being implemented by the buyer and seller through making deals (see below). Graphically, we can display these quotations as the agents’ trajectories of motion in the formal economic space as will be shown below. In real market life, these quotations are discrete functions of time, but, for simplicity, we will visualize them graphically (as well as supply and demand functions, see below) as continuous linear functions or straight lines. This approximate procedure does not lead to a loss of generality, since these functions and lines are necessary to us. They are only for the illustration of the mechanism of the market work and for the most general graphic representation of the motion of the market agents in the two formal economic spaces, corresponding to the two independent variables, price P and quantity Q. We will refer to this agent motion as market behavior, for brevity, and sometimes the evolution of the economy in time. All these terms are, in essence, synonyms in this context of the discussion. And for simplicity we will call these spaces the price space and the quantity space, respectively, as well as the united space as the price-quantity space.

By setting out desired prices and quantities this way, buyers and sellers take part in the market process and act as homo negotians (a negotiating man) in the physical modeling, aiming to maximum satisfaction in their attempts to make a profit on the market. This is the first market equilibrium price pE₁ and quantity qE₁ at a moment in time t₁E at which the agents’ trajectories intersect, the deal takes place, and the interests of both the buyer and seller are optimally satisfied, taking inexplicitly into consideration the influence of the external environmental and institutional factors on the market in general. It is here that one can see similarity in the movement of the many-agent economic system in the price-quantity economic space (described by the buyer’s trajectories p₁D (t), q₁D (t) and seller’s trajectories p₁S (t), q₁S (t)) to the movement of the corresponding many-particle physical system in the physical space (described by the particles’ trajectories xn(t)) which is also subject to a certain physical principle of maximization. In Fig. 1, we give the graphic representation of these trajectories of agents’ motion depending on the time with the help of the suitable coordinate systems of the time-price (t, P), and the time-quantity (t, Q), in the same manner as we do the construction of analogous particles’ trajectories in classical mechanics. Below we will demonstrate a substantial similarity with physics that is depicted in the upper part of Fig. 1, with, the trajectory of the motion of agents in the price space (P-space below) and, in the lower part of Fig. 1 – in the quantity space (Q-space below). In the aggregate, both pictures represent the motion of market agents in the price quantity space (PQ-space below).

This agents’ motion reflects the market process, which consists in changing continuously by the market agents their quotations. Note, we depicted in Fig. 1 a certain standard situation on the market, in which the buyer and the seller encountered deliberately at the moment of the time t₁ and began to discuss the potential transaction by a mutual exchange of information about their conditions, first of all the desired prices and the desired quantities of goods. During the negotiation, they continuously change these quotations until they agree on the final conditions of price pE₁ and quantity qE₁ , at the moment in time t₁E. Such a simplest market model is applicable, for example, for the imaginable island economy in which once a year, a trade of grain occurs between a farmer and a hunter. They use the American dollar, $. To illustrate, the situation is described below in Fig. 1. Note that in this and subsequent pictures we use arrows to indicate the direction of the agent’s motion during the market process.

Up to the moment of t₁ , the market has been in the simple state of rest, there were no trading in it at all. At the moment of the time t₁, there appear the buyer and the seller of grain in it, which set out their initial desired prices and quantities of grain, p₁D (t₁), p₁S (t₁), and q₁D (t₁), q₁S (t₁). Points P and V in the graphs show the position of the buyer (purchaser) and seller (vendor) at the given instant of t₁. It is natural that the desires of buyer and seller do not immediately coincide, buyer wants low price, but the seller strives for the higher price. However, both desires and needs for reaching understanding and completing transaction remain, otherwise the farmer and the hunter will have the difficult next year. The process of negotiations goes on, the market process of changing by the agents their quotations continues. As a result, the positions of the market agents converge and, after all, they coincide at the moment in time of t₁E, which corresponds to the trajectories’ intersection point E1 on the graphs.

Fig. 1. Trajectory diagram displaying dynamics of the classical two-agent market economy in the one-dimensional economic price space (above) and in the economic quantity space (below). Dimension of time t is year, dimension of the price independent variable P is $/ton, and dimension of the quantity independent variable Q is ton.

A voluntary transaction is accomplished to the mutual satisfaction. Further, the market again is immersed into the state of rest until the next harvest and its display to sale next year at the moment in time of t₂. Harvest in this season grew, therefore q₁S(t₂)> q₁S(t₁). In this situation, the seller is, obviously, forced to immediately set out the lower starting price, p₁S(t₂)< p₁S(t₁), while the buyer, seizing the opportunity, also reduced their price and increased their quantity of grain: p₁D(t₂)< p₁D(t₁) and q₁D(t₂)> q₁D(t₁). It is natural to expect in this case that the trajectories of the buyer and the seller would be slightly changed, and agreement between the buyer and the seller will be achieved with other parameters than in the previous round of trading.

Conventionally, we will describe the state of the market at every moment in time by the set of real market prices and quantities of real deals which really take place in the market. As we can see from the Fig. 1 real deals occur in the market in our case only at the moments t₁E and t₂E when the following market equilibrium conditions are valid (points Ei  in Fig. 1):

In this formula, we used several new notions and definitions, whose meanings need explanation. Let us make these explanations in sufficient detail in view of their importance for understanding the following presentation of physical economics. First, in contemporary economic theory, the concept of supply and demand (S&D below) plays one of the central roles. Intuitively, at the qualitative descriptive level, all economists comprehend what this concept means. Complexities and readings appear only in practice with the attempts to give a mathematical treatment to these notions and to develop an adequate method of their calculation and measurement. For this purpose, the various theories contain different mathematical models of S&D that have been developed within the framework. In these theories, differing so-called S&D functions are used to formally define and quantitatively describe S&D.

In this book, we will also repeatedly encounter the various mathematical representations of this concept in different theories, which compose physical economics, namely, classical economy, probability economics, and quantum economy.

Even within the framework of one theory, it is possible to give several formal definitions of S&D functions supplementing each other. For example, within the framework of our two-agent classical economy, we can define total S&D functions as follows:

Thus, we have defined at each moment of time t the total demand function of the buyer, D₁⁰(t), and the total supply function of the seller, S₁⁰(t), as the product of their price and quantity quotations. These functions can be easily depicted in the coordinate system of time and S&D [T, S&D], as it was done in Fig. 2 displaying the so-called S&D diagram. As one would expect, the S&D functions intersect at the equilibrium point E. It is accepted in such cases to indicate that S&D are equal at the equilibrium point. We consider that it is more strictly to say that equilibrium point is that point on the diagram of the trajectories, where these trajectories intersect, i.e., where the price and quantity quotations of the buyer and the seller are equal. But that in this case S&D curves intersect is the simple consequence of their definition equality of prices and quantities at the equilibrium point.

The last observation here concerns a formula for evaluating the volume of trade in the market, MTV(tiE), between the buyer and the seller where they come to a mutual understanding and accomplishment of transaction at the equilibrium point Ei. It is clear that to obtain the trade volume (total value of all the transactions in this case), it is possible to simply multiply the equilibrium values of price and quantity that are derived from the above formula. The dimension of the trade volume is of course a product of the dimensions of price and quantity; in this example this is $. The same is valid for the dimensions of the total S&D, D₁⁰(t) and S₁⁰(t).

Fig. 2. S&D diagram displaying dynamics of the classical two-agent market economy in the time-S&D functions coordinate system [T, S&D], within the first time interval [t₁, t₁E].

4.2. The Main Market Rule “Sell all – Buy at all”

Having a method to more or less evaluate the price quantitatively is always advantageous, as it helps us to somewhat predict market prices. Using the main rule of work on the market is used to this end, and this strategic rule of decision making can be briefly formulated as follows: “Sell all – Buy at all”. This main market rule indicates the following different strategies of market actions (action on the market is setting out quotations) for both the seller and the buyer. For the seller this strategy consists in striving to sell all the goods planned to sale at the maximally possible highest prices. Whereas for the buyer this strategy consists in the fact that it will expend all the money planned for the purchase of goods and try to purchase in this case as much as possible at the possible smallest price. Thus, the main market rule leads to the corresponding algorithms of the actions of agents on the markets, which are graphically represented in the form of agents’ trajectories in the pictures. The point of intersection and the respective trade volume in the market, MTV, are easily found with the help of the following mathematical formulas:

It is natural here to name D₁⁰(t₁) the total demand of buyer at the initial moment of trading. The sense of this quantity is in the fact that this is quantity of resources, planned for the purchase of goods, expressed in the money, although the dimension of this demand is the dimension of money price ($/ton) multiplied by the dimension of quantity (ton). In our case, this is $. We emphasize that, over the course of development of quantitative theory, this is very important in order to draw attention to the dimension of the used quantities and parameters, and to the normalization of the applied functions (see below).

By analogy with classical mechanics, we can treat these prices and quantity functions as the trajectories of movement of the market agents in the two-dimensional economic PQ-space as it was displayed in Fig. 3.

In principle, this representation gives nothing new in comparison with Figs. 1 and 2. Nevertheless, there is one interesting nuance here, in which the similarity of this diagram can be compared to the traditional picture in the conceptual neoclassical model of S&D. We will examine this question below. But let us now focus attention on the following nuances in the picture in Fig. 3. First, it is clearly shown by the arrows, that the buyer and the seller seemingly move towards each other on the price, with the seller reducing it, and the buyer, on the contrary, increasing it. From this, we can reflect on the illustration of normal market negotiation processes. Secondly, usually the quotations of quantities are reduced during the process of negotiations both by the buyer and by the seller. Clearly, all agents want to purchase or to sell a smaller quantity of goods at the compromise market price than at the most desired, presented at the very beginning of trading.

Fig. 3. Dynamics of the classical two-agent market economy in the two-dimensional economic price-quantity space within the first time interval [t₁, t₁E].

And now we turn from the simplest economy to a more developed economy, in which the farmer and hunter gradually switch from the discrete trade system (one trade per year) to the continuous trade system on the market. Generally speaking, negotiations are conducted continuously and transactions are accomplished continuously, depending on the needs of the buyer and the seller. This would continue for many years. Taking into account this new long-term outlook it is expedient to change somewhat the method of describing the work of the market. Namely, by quotations of a quantity of goods, it is now more convenient to represent a quantity of goods during a specific and reasonable period of time, for example year, if the discussion deals with the long-standing work of the market. In this case the dimension of a quantity would be represented by ton/year. We show in Figs. 4, 5 how it is possible to graphically represent the work of the market over a long span of time. We see that before the establishment of equilibrium at point E, transactions were of course accomplished, but probably did not bring maximum satisfaction to the participants in the market. This would induce agents to continue to search for long-term compromises in prices and quantities. After reaching equilibrium, the volume of trade reaches a maximum, and participants in the market therefore attempt to further support this equilibrium.

Fig. 4. The classical stationary and non-stationary two-agent market economies in the [T, P] and [T, Q] coordinate systems in the time interval t > tE.

Fig. 5. The classical stationary and non-stationary two-agent market economies in the [T, S&D] – coordinate system.

Here a fork appears in the following theory: – look at Figs. 5 and 6. If quotations cease to change, then the economy converts to a stationary state in which time appears to disappear. This is especially noticeable in Fig. 6, where this sort of stationary state is described by one point, E. We will label the economies in the stationary state simply the stationary economies. But if quotations vary with time, then the economy will be named the time-dependent or simply non-stationary economies. In Figs. 5 and 6 they are represented by two lines, which emanate from the equilibrium point E. If in this case the equilibrium quantity grows, then the economy is a growing one. But if it decreases, then the economy is falling one, which clearly is represented in Fig. 5. As a rule, in such cases, the total S&D behave similarly and this can be easily seen in Fig. 5. Let us note that their dimensions in this model have also changed, now equaling $ · ton/year.

Fig. 6. The classical stationary and non-stationary two-agent market economies in the economic price-quantity space at t > tE.

4.3. The Many-Agent Market Economies

Now we will increase the level of complexity of the classical economies by examining how it is possible to incorporate several buyers and sellers into the theory. It is understandable that each market agent will have its own trajectories in the PQ-space. In principle, they can vary greatly. There is good reason to believe that there is much similarity in the behavior of all buyers in general. The same is valid of course for all sellers. The reason is as follows. There is the intense information exchange on the market, by means of which the coordination of actions is achieved among the buyers, among the sellers, as well as among the buyers and sellers. This coordination is carried out to assist the market in reaching its maximum volume of trade, since it is precisely during the process of trading that the last point is placed in the long process of preliminary business operations: production, financing, logistics, etc. This is exactly what we would have referred to earlier as the social cooperation of the market’s agents. For example, it is natural to expect that all buyers, from one side, and sellers, from other side, behave on the market in approximately the same way, since they all are guided in their behavior on the market by one and the same main rule of work on the market: “Sell all – Buy at all”.

Hence it is possible to draw from the above discussion the following important conclusion: the trajectories of all buyers in the P-space will be close to each other; therefore, the totality of all buyers’ trajectories can be graphically represented in the form of a relatively narrow “pipe”, in which will be plotted the trajectories of all buyers. It is also possible to represent all price trajectories of the buyers by means of a single averaged trajectory, pD(t), which we will do below. We will do the same for the sellers, and their single averaged price trajectory we will designate as pS(t).

We have a completely different situation with the quantity trajectories, since each market agent can have the very different quantities, bearing in mind the fact that the behavior of the buyers’ (sellers’) curves can be relatively similar to each other. Nevertheless, we can establish some regularities in the behavior of the whole market, being guided by common sense and the logical method. Since the quotations of quantities are real in the classical models, we can add them in order to obtain the quantity quotations of the whole market, qD(t) и qS(t). However one should do this separately for the buyers and sellers as follows:

where summing up of quantity quotations is executed formally for the market, which consists of N buyers and M sellers. In this case we understand that for the whole market we can draw all the same pictures as displayed in Figs. 1–6 for the two-agent market. Thus, for instance, we can represent the dynamics of our many-agent market by the help of the following pictures in Fig. 7. In it, the dynamics of many-agent market are depicted at the moment of equilibrium (curves qD(pD) and qS(pS)), as well as dynamics of the stationary economy (point E) and dynamics of the non-stationary growing and falling economies.

Fig. 7. Dynamics of the many-agent market economy in the price-quantity space. qD(pD) and qS(pS) are quantity trajectories reflecting dynamics of market agents’ quotations in time up to the moment of establishment of the equilibrium and making transactions at the equilibrium price.

4.4. The Classical Economies versus Neoclassical Economies

Let us call attention to the fact that, in Figs. 3 and 6, the quotation curve of the buyer, q₁D (pD), has negative slope, and the slope of the quotation curve of the seller, q₁S (pS), is positive. This reflects the natural desire of the buyer to purchase more at the lower price, as far as possible, and the natural desire of the seller to sell more at the higher price, as far as possible. Specifically, it is here we reveal the visual similarity of the classical economies to the known neoclassical model of S&D. But the visual similarity of picture in Figs. 3, 6 with the corresponding famous neoclassical picture in the form of two intersected lines of S&D is only formal; economic content in them is entirely different. In classical economies, this is a graphic representation of the real market process (which really occurs on the market at a given instant), while in the neoclassical economies, this picture expresses the planned actions of market agents on the market in the future. Note that in neoclassical economics it is namely the curves qS(pS) and qD(pD) that are called S&D functions. The economic content of these S&D functions can be roughly expressed thus: “the market is by itself, I am by myself”. If one price is on the market, then I purchase (or I sell) one quantity, and if it is another, then will I purchase (or I will sell) another quantity, and so forth. Thus, the market process is completely ignored in the neoclassical economic model. But we know that, in real market life, all market agents participate continuously in the market process, permanently changing price and quantity quotations, since each has made transaction price changes on the market. We will discuss neoclassical models in more detail in other chapters of the book. However, we will now develop an artificial classical economy that will be as similar to the neoclassical model as possible.

We will call this model the quasi-market economy with the “visible hand of the market” in order to distinguish it from the economies having self-organizing markets, or economies that exhibit the “invisible hand of market”. In the quasi-market economy, there is a definite chief (very strict and all-seeing by definition) of the market (visible hand of the market), to whom all agents of the market for the planned period, let us say a year, must pass very detailed and reliable plans with respect to purchase and sale of goods. These plans are compiled by agents and are given to the chief in the form of tables, which are formed according to the rule stated above. If just such a price is found on the market, then I will sell a particular volume; if it is another price, then I will purchase (or sell) another, specific volume, and so forth. These agent tables are represented in Fig. 8 for simplicity in the form of continuous straight lines, a factor which does not decrease their generality in this case.

Let us note that each agent passes its plan to the chief in the form of table, and chief itself unites data of these plans and presents them in the easy-to-use shape of the two straight lines in one picture. Common sense tells us that it is most profitable for the buyer to purchase more at the minimum price. But in this scenario the seller would want to sell less. The opposite would be true for both buyer and seller at the maximum price. Graphically, this is reflected in the fact that when point P₁ is higher than point V₁, and the point V₂ higher than point P₂, the consequence is that the slope of the curve of the buyer is be negative, and the slope of the curve of the seller, positive. It is obvious that these two straight lines will compulsorily be crossed at the point E (pE, qE), where the prices and quantities of the buyer and seller coincide. Next, the chief considers that these prices and quantities reflect certain equilibrium in the market, he or she calls the equilibrium price and quantity and declares that these values of price and quantity are set for the market year. Market process is, in this case, further completely eliminated from market life, in that the decisions of the market's chief completely substitutes it during the next year. We call this model economy a quasi-market one, since plans are compiled by market agents. However, they realize them in the prices and the quantities that are essentially dictated by the market’s chief.

Fig. 8. The classical two-agent quasi-market economy in the economic price-quantity space.

We consider this quasi-market, stationary classical economy to be, in essence, the neoclassical model of S&D. The graphic representation of the neoclassical model economy is, by the way, the same Fig. 8, since plans in the neoclassical theory are drawn up in precisely the same way that we described above for the quasi-market economy. But in neoclassical economics, it is considered a priori that the market itself in some manner will carry out the role, which the chief of the market fills in the quasi-market economy. But if the market process is absent and there are no actions of agents adapting to the market, then who or what will fill this role? Moreover, if the economy is in a stationary state, then all prices and quantities are already known to all participants in the market, and their plans then are graphically reduced simply to one point: E. It is here that the neoclassical model generally lacks any sense or value.

References

1. A.V. Kondratenko. Physical Modeling of Economic Systems. Classical and Quantum Economies. Nauka, Novosibirsk, 2005.

CHAPTER II. The Constructive Design of the Agent-Based Physical Economic Models

“The specific method of economics is the method of imaginary constructions… Everyone who wants to express an opinion about the problems commonly called economic takes recourse to this method… An imaginary construction is a conceptual image of a sequence of events logically evolved from the elements of action employed in its formation. It is a product of deduction, ultimately derived from the fundamental category of action, the act of preferring and setting aside. In designing such an imaginary construction the economist is not concerned with the question of whether or not it depicts the conditions of reality which he wants to analyze. Nor does he bother about the question of whether or not such a system as his imaginary construction posits could be conceived as really existent and in operation. Even imaginary constructions which are inconceivable, self-contradictory, or unrealizable can render useful, even indispensable services in the comprehension of reality, provided the economist knows how to use them properly. The method of imaginary constructions is justified by its success. Praxeology cannot, like the natural sciences, base its teachings upon laboratory experiments and sensory perception of external objects… The main formula for designing of imaginary constructions is to abstract from the operation of some conditions present in actual action. Then we are in a position to grasp the hypothetical consequences of the absence of these conditions and to conceive the effects of their existence… The method of imaginary constructions is indispensable for praxeology; it is the only method of praxeological and economic inquiry”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 236

PREVIEW. What is the Physical Economic Model?

This is the conceptual mathematical dynamic model of the many-agent economic systems in the formal space of the independent variables, prices and quantities, of all the market agents. It is built through a significant analogy with the theoretical physical models of the many-particle systems in real space, but taking consistently into account basic, specific differences in the economic and physical systems. Each model is, in essence, only an imaginary construction, which by no means completely reflects genuine reality. It is, however, capable of describing one or several basic special features of structure or functioning of the market economy in sufficiently strict mathematical language. It was primarily created to provide fresh insight into these features, and, after the addition of another model feature or interaction, to understand, precisely how it influences entire end results.

1. The Basic Concept of Physical Economic Design

By stretching a point, we can say that the basic concept of design of our physical economic models is skeuomorphism. Let us explain what this concept means in our case. As we have already mentioned repeatedly in this book, when constructing physical economic models we strive to reach a formal mathematical, linguistic and even graphical similarity to their physical prototypes. Specifically, this concerns both the structure and the dynamics, as well as the language and the methods of representation of the obtained results, including graphics. We consistently follow this basic concept of design throughout the book. Let us stress another point. Our main task in the book is the construction of economic models that, in as much as possible, highly resemble or copy the known form and custom physicists’ models of many-particle systems. This facilitates understanding of the models and makes it possible to use the existing, detailed language of physics within a new economic framework. For example, the language of wave functions and probability distributions will be widely used here below, although this, of course, unavoidably leads to the appearance in the theory of a large quantity of neologisms. This may strongly hamper the reading of texts by economists, but substantially facilitates this process for specialists in the fields of natural sciences. We think that this basic design concept is quite adequate for building physics-based models of economic systems.

We begin with the requirement that the graphical scheme of the physical models must be similar to the picture of the many-particle physical systems, such as polyatomic molecules, for instance. Main elements of our physical models of economic systems are shown schematically in Fig. 1. A large sphere covers a market subsystem or economy consisting of active market subjects: buyers who have financial resources and a desire to buy goods or commodities, and sellers who have goods or commodities and a desire to sell them. They are the sellers and the buyers who form supply and demand (S&D below) in the market. Small dots inside the sphere denote buyers, and big ones denote sellers. The cross-hatched area outside the sphere represents the institutional and external environments, or more exactly, internal institutions such as the state, government, society, trade unions etc., and the external environment including other markets and economies, natural factors etc. It is evident that all elements and factors of the system influence each other; buyers compete with each other in the market for goods and sellers compete with each other for the money of buyers. Buyers and sellers interact with each other, permanently influencing each other’s behavior. Institutions and the external environment influence all the economic agents, including not only businesses but also ordinary people. In other words, all the economic agents are influenced by institutional and external environments and interact with each other.

Fig. 1. The physical model scheme of an economic system: a market consisting of the interacting buyers (small dots) and sellers (big dots) who are under the influence of the internal institutions and the external environment beyond the market (covered by the conventional imaginary sphere).

In order to develop a physical model of the economic system, it is necessary to learn to describe in an exact, mathematical way both movements (behaviors and influences) of each economic agent, i.e., buyers and sellers, the state and other institutions etc., and interactions with each other. It is the goal to derive equations of motion for market agents – the buyers and sellers – who determine the dynamics, movement, or evolution of the market system in time.

2. The Economic Multi-Dimensional Price-Quantity Space

As we already discussed above, in order to show the movement or dynamics of an economy it is necessary to introduce a formal economic space in which this movement takes place. As an example of such space we can choose a formal price space designed by the analogy with a common physical space. We choose the prices Pi of the i-th item of goods as coordinate axes: i = 1, 2,…, L, where L is the number of items or goods (the bold P will designate below all the L price coordinates). In case there is only one good, the space is one-dimensional and represented by a single line. The coordinate system for the one-dimensional space is shown in Fig. 2.

The distance between two points in one-dimensional space p' and p" can be for instance determined by the following:

If two goods are traded on the market (L = 2), the space is a plane; the coordinate system is represented in this case by two mutually perpendicular lines (see Fig. 3).

The distance between two points p' and p" can be determined as follows:

We can build the price economic space of any dimension L in the same way. In spite of its apparent simplicity, the introduction of the formal economic price space is of conceptual importance as it allows us to describe behavior of market agents in general mathematical terms. It represents realistic occurrences, as setting out their own price for goods at any moment of time t is the main function or activity of market agents. It is, in fact, the main feature or trajectory of agents’ behavior in the market. Let us stress once again that it is our main goal to learn to describe these trajectories or the distributions of price probability connected with them. It is impossible to do this in a physical space. For example, we can thoroughly describe movement or the trajectory of a seller with goods in physical space, especially if they are in a car or in a spaceship. However, this description will not supply us with any understanding of their attitude towards the given goods; nor will it explain their behavior or value estimation regarding the goods as an economic agent.

Fig. 2. The economic one-dimensional price space for the one-good market economy.

Fig. 3. The economic two-dimensional price space for the two-good market economy.

Within the problem of describing agents’ behavior in the market, the role of the good prices P as independent variables, or a coordinates P is considered here to be in many situations a unique one for market economic systems. In these cases we can study market dynamics in the economic price spaces. But market situations occur fairly often in which we need to explicitly take into account the independent good quantity variables Q (the bold Q will designate below all the L quantity coordinates) and consequently to describe economic dynamics in the economic 2×L-dimensional price-quantity spaces. In these scenarios, we can imagine that the whole economic system is located in the multi-dimensional price-quantity space as it is displayed in Fig. 4. We have already used many aspects of this idea naturally when discussing classical economics. We will address any concerns in the upcoming chapters.

Fig. 4. The graphical model of the many-good, many-agent market economy in the economic multi-dimensional price-quantity space. It is displayed schematically in the conventional rectangular multi-dimensional coordinate system [P, Q] where, as usual, bold P and Q designate the price and quantity coordinate axes for all the goods. Again, our model economy consists of the market and the institutional and external environment. The market consists of buyers (small dots) and sellers (big dots) covered by the conventional sphere. Very many people, institutions, and natural and other factors can represent the external environment (cross – hatched area behind the sphere) of the market which exerts perturbations on market agents (pictured by arrows pointing from environment to the market).

3. The Market-Based Trade Maximization Principle and the Economic Equations of Motion

As we saw above in the example of the simplest classical economies, market agents actively make trade transactions, and there are no trade deals at all out of the equilibrium state. As the inclination of market agents’ action is to make deals, we can naturally conclude that market agents and the market as a whole strive to approach an equilibrium state that can be expressed as the natural tendency of the market to reach the maximum volume of trade. This fact can serve as a guide for using the market agents’ trajectories to describe their dynamics. Moreover, this fact gives us grounds to expect that equations of motion can be derived from the market-based maximization principle, used to describe these trajectories. Specifically, the main market rule “Sell all – Buy at all” can be regarded to some extent as a verbal expression of both the tendency of the market toward the trade volume maximum, and the principal ability to describe market dynamics by means of agent trajectories as solutions to certain equations of motion.

The second reason of we have confidence in creating a successful dynamic or time-dependent theory of economic systems in the economic spaces is based on the analogous dynamic theory of physical systems in physical space. We also admit that the reasonable starting point in the study of economic systems dynamics is with equations of motion for a formal physical prototype. This is in spite of the differences between the features of the economic and physical spaces and the features of the economic and physical systems. The type of equations in the spaces of both systems will be approximately the same, though the essence of the parameters and potentials in them will be completely different. It is normal in physics that one and the same equation describes different systems. For example, the equation of motion of a harmonic oscillator describes the motion of both a simple pendulum and an electromagnetic wave. Formal similarity of the equations does not mean equality of the systems which they describe.

The discipline of physics has accumulated broad experience in calculating the physical systems of different degrees of complexity with different inter-particle interactions and interactions of particles with external environments. It makes sense to try and find a way to use these achievements in finding solutions to economic problems. Should any of these attempts prove to be successful, it would establish the opportunity to do numerical research on the influence that both internal and external factors exert on the behaviours of each market agent, as well as the entire economic system’s activity. This process would be done with the help of computer calculations done on the physical economic models. Theoretical economics will have acquired the most powerful research device, the opportunities of which could only be compared to the result of the discovery and exploration of equations of motion for physical systems.

The next step in developing a physical model after selecting an appropriate economic space, is the selection of a function that will assist us in describing the dynamics of an economy, such as the movement of buyers and sellers in the price space. Trajectories in coordinate physical space x(t) (classical mechanics), wave functions ψ or distributions of probabilities |ψ|² (quantum mechanics), Green’s functions G and S-matrices (in quantum physics), etc. are used as such functions in physics. We started above with an attempt to develop the model using trajectories in the price space p(t) by analogy with the use of trajectories x(t) of point-like particles used in classical mechanics. Below, this model is referred to as a classical model or simply, a classical economy. Below, we will use the term classical economy in the broad sense for designating the branch of physical modeling of many-agent economic systems with the help of methods of classical mechanics of many-particle systems. It is important to realize that each selection gives rise to its own equations of motion and, therefore, to different physical economic models. For example, if we select from these trajectory variants, then we obtain the economic Lagrange equations of motion and, therefore, the classical economies as the physical economic models. The discussion will deal with these models in detail in Chapter III. If we select wave functions, then we obtain at the output the economic Schrödinger equations of motion and, therefore, quantum economies (see Chapters IX and X). Without going into details here, let us say that both the Lagrange and Schrödinger equations appear as the result of applying the principles of maximization to the whole economic system. This is analogous to the maximization principles, which are explored in physics in obtaining the Lagrange and Schrödinger equations, respectively.

Strictly speaking, all these principles of maximization, both in economics and physics, are in essence a set of hypotheses. Their validity or effectiveness can be confirmed only via practical calculations and comparison of their results with the respective known laws and phenomena, as well as with the relevant big empirical data. But intuition suggests that this way of developing economic theory is most optimum at the present time. Since it is presently not known how to derive equations of motion in economics, borrowing existing theoretical structural models from physics is helpful. Since analogies can be drawn between the spaces and features of both physics and economics, we can use skeuomorphism and transfer the design models from the one discipline to the other.

We understand that in principle, equations of motion for economics can be derived with the aid of the market-based trade maximization principle. To be honest, we do not fully understand how this exactly works. According to some indirect signs, we can only surmise that the market-based trade maximization principle and maximization principles borrowed from physics, work in one direction. We will examine this more specifically in Chapter VIII.

References

1. A.V. Kondratenko. Physical Modeling of Economic Systems. Classical and Quantum Economies. Nauka (Science), Novosibirsk, 2005.

PART B. Classical Economy

“The classical economist sought to explain the formation of prices. They were fully aware of the fact that prices are not a product of the activities of a special group of people, but the result of an interplay of all members of the market society. This was the meaning of their statement that demand and supply determine the formation of prices… They wanted to conceive the real formation of prices – not fictitious prices as they would be determined if men were acting under the sway of hypothetical conditions different from those really influencing them. The prices they try to explain and do explain – although without tracing them back to the choices of the consumers – are real market prices. The demand and supply of which they speak are real factors determined by all motives instigating men to buy or to sell. What was wrong with their theory was that they did not trace demand back to the choices of the consumers; they lacked a satisfactory theory of demand. But it was not their idea that demand as they used this concept in their dissertations was exclusively determined by “economic” motives as distinguished from “noneconomic” motives. As they restricted their theorizing to the actions of businessmen, they did not deal with the motives of the ultimate consumers. Nonetheless their theory of prices was intended as an explanation of real prices irrespective of the motives and ideas instigating the consumers”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 62

CHAPTER III. Classical Economies in the Price Space

“Prices are a market phenomenon. They are generated by the market process and are the pith of the market economy. There is no such thing as prices outside the market. Prices cannot be constructed synthetically, as it were. They are the resultant of a certain constellation of market data, of actions and reactions of the members of a market society. It is vain to meditate what prices would have been if some of their determinants had been different. Such fantastic designs are no more sensible than whimsical speculations about what the course of history would have been if Napoleon had been killed in the battle of Arcole or if Lincoln had ordered Major Anderson to withdraw from Fort Sumter.

It is no less vain to ponder on what prices ought to be”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 395

PREVIEW. What are the Economic Lagrange Equations?

Based on the belief that the dynamics of the many-agent market economies has to some extent a deterministic character, we derived the economic equations of motion by formal analogy with classical mechanics of the many-particle systems. As a result, we naturally obtained the economic Lagrange equations of motion describing dynamics of economic systems in time. It is fascinating that we can interpret Lagrangian as the mathematical classical representation of the market invisible hand concept.

1. Foundations of Classical Economy

The logic of the present Section is the following. With the understanding that, pursuing own various well-defined goals, the market agents behave to some extent in a deterministic way, in this Chapter we are going to outline the adequate and approximate equations of motion for the economy. In order to design a physical model and derive classical equations of motion for economic systems in the price space ab initio, that is with the five general principles of physical economics in mind, we first make similar approximations and assumptions needed to derive the equations of motion for physical systems. This can be found in the course of theoretical physics by Landau and Lifshitz [1, 2]. In this way we derive equations of motion for economic systems, which are similar to equations for physical systems in form, and are considered by us as an initial approximation for a physical economic model of the modelled economic system.

According to the above-stated plan of actions we could confine ourselves in this Chapter to just writing equations of motion analogous to those obtained in classical mechanics. However, we consider it useful to derive a full row of equations and to make additional comments on our actions. As we have indicated before, according to our approach to classical modeling of economic systems, every economic agent, homo negotians, acts not only rationally in his or her own interests, but also reasonably. They negotiate to reach a minimum price for the buyer and a maximum price for the seller, but also leave their counteragent a chance to gain profit from transactions or to achieve some other goals, economic or noneconomic in nature. Otherwise, transactions would take place only once, while all agents would prefer the continuation and stability of their business.

Besides, we presume that external forces are usually inclined to influence market operations positively, establishing common rules of play that favor gaining maximum profit, utility, trade volume, or something else for the whole economic system. Based on these assumptions, we have a firm belief that there are certain principles of optimization, and their effects on market agents result in certain rules of market behavior and certain equations of motion that are followed by all rational or reasonable players spontaneously or voluntarily. In our opinion, it is they who have the leading role in the market.

Concluding, let us repeat that we will derive below the economic Lagrange equations of motion by recognizing inexplicitly the following five general principles of physical economics:

1. The Cooperation-Oriented Agent Principle.

2. The Institutional and Environmental Principle.

3. The Dynamic and Evolutionary Principle.

4. The Market-Based Trade Maximization Principle.

5. The Uncertainty and Probability Principle.

It is evident that the uncertainty and probability effects begin to play significant role in classical economies only for the markets with huge numbers of agents. We do not concern ourselves with these effects within the framework of classical economy because it is much easier to study these problems within the framework of quantum economy (see next two chapters).

2. The Economic Lagrange Equations

Let us proceed to deriving equations of motion for the classical economy shown schematically in Fig. 1. We follow the same procedure as in classical mechanics [1]. To make calculations easier, we will consider here the one-good market economy, that is, only movement in one-dimensional price space with one coordinate P. Transition to a multi-dimensional case does not cause principal complications. We will consider that by the analogy with classical mechanics [1], a state of economy comprising of N buyers and M sellers and being under the influence of the environment is fully described by establishing all prices pi and their first time t derivatives (price changing rate or velocity of movement) , where i = 1, 2, …, N + M. Let p without subscripts denote the set of all prices pi for short, similar to first and second time derivatives, i.e., for velocities pi and accelerations . Due to their logic or by definition, equations of motion connect prices, velocities and accelerations. In classical mechanics they are second-order differential equations of time, their solution under assigned conditions at the moment t₀, x(t₀) and ẋ(t₀), represents the required mechanical trajectories, x(t). We are going to derive similar equations with the same view for our economic system in the price space.

By analogy with classical mechanics we assume that these equations result from the following principle of maximization (the principle of least action or the principle of stationary action in mechanics). Namely, the action S must have the least possible value:

Fig. 1. Graphical model of an economy in the multi-dimensional PQ-space. It is displayed schematically in the conventional rectangular multi-dimensional coordinate system [P, Q] where P and Q designate all the agent price and quantity coordinate axes, respectively. Our model economy consists of the market and the external environment. The market consists of buyers (small dots) and sellers (big dots) covered by the conventional sphere. Very many people, institutions, as well as natural and other factors can represent the external environment (cross – hatched area behind the sphere) of the market which exerts perturbations on market agents, pictured here by arrows pointing from environment to market.

The obtained (1) and (2) lead to equations of motion or Lagrange equations [1]:

Equations of motion represent a system of second-order N + M differential equations of time t for N + M unknown required trajectories pi(t).

These equations employ as yet an unknown Lagrange function or Lagrangian L (p, ṗ, t) which is to be found on the basis of research or experimental data. We will note that Lagrange functions were used in literature to solve a number of optimization problems of management science [3]. Let us emphasize that determination of the Lagrange function is the key problem that can only be solved in practice by making the data of theoretical calculation fit the experiment. It can not be done using theoretical methods only. But what we can do quickly is to make the first obvious trial step. Here we assume that to a certain degree of approximation, the Lagrange function resembles (in appearance only!) the Lagrange function of its physical prototype, a system of N+M point material particles with certain potentials. All assumptions made here can be thoroughly analyzed later at the second stage of investigation and left unchanged or made more accurate after comparison with the experimental data. Accomplishment of this stage will naturally require great effort and expense. For now, we will accept these assumptions and consider that Lagrange functions have the same form as those of their physical prototype, but all parameters and potentials of the economic system will be chosen on the basis of economic experience, not taken from the physical prototype. We consider that by adjusting parameters and potentials to the experiment we can smooth out the negative influence of assumptions made for solutions of equations of motion obtained in this particular way.

So, according to our approach, equations of motion in classical economy are nominally identical to those in the corresponding mechanical system. However, their constants and potentials will have another essence, other dimensions and other values. A great advantage of classical economies consists of the fact that mathematical solutions of these equations, analytical or numerical, have been found for a great number of Lagrange functions with different potentials. That is why it is of great help to apply them. Allow us to turn to relatively simple classical economies.

Let us consider a case of the classical economy with a single good, a single buyer, and a single seller, where environmental influence and interaction between a buyer and a seller can be described with the help of potentials. The Lagrangian of such an economy has the following form:

In (4) m₁ and m₂ are certain unknown constant values or parameters of economic agents who are the buyer and the seller respectively. The first two members of equation (4) in classical mechanics correspond to kinetic energy, and the remaining three to potential energy. Understanding the conventional character of these notions, we will use them for economy as well. Potential V₁₂ (p₁, p₂) describes interaction between the buyer and the seller (it is unknown a priori), and potentials U₁(p₁, t) and U₂(p₂, t) are designed to describe environmental influence on economy. They are to be chosen with respect to experimental data according to the dynamics of the modeled economy. Lagrange equations have the following form for this type of Lagrangian:

This system of two differential second-order equations of time t represents equations of motion for a selected classical economy. According to their form they are identical to the equations of motion of the physical prototype in physical space. In the latter system (5), the second Newton’s law of classical mechanics is designated: “product of mass by acceleration equals force”. And quite another matter is that potentials can be significantly different from the corresponding potentials in the physical system. We should mention once again that these potentials are to be discovered for different economies by detailed comparison of results of computation of equations of motion of economies with experimental or research data, or in other words, with data of empirical economics. At the initial stage it is natural to try to use known forms of potentials from physical theories, and we are going to do that in future. Let us note that the purchase-sale deal or transaction in the market between the buyer and the seller will take place at the time tE when their trajectories p₁(tE) and p₂(tE) intersect: p₁(tE) = p₂(tE) = pE, as it is shown in Figs. 2, 3 for the model grain market. The equilibrium value of price, pE, is indeed then the real price of the good or commodity in the market, what we refer to as the market price of the good. See formulas, figures and discussions for classical economies in Chapter I.

It is interesting that a number of some common features of classical economy with equations of motion (5) are common for almost all constants mi and potentials V₁₂ and Ui. Let us consider a case where external potentials Ui (pi) do not depend on time and represent potentials of attraction with high potential walls at the origin of coordinates that prevent economy from moving towards the negative price region. Further potential V₁₂ depends only on the module of price differences of the buyer and the seller p₁₂=|p₂ – p₁|, namely,

Fig. 2. The trajectory diagram showing dynamics of the classical one-good, two-agent market economy in the price-time coordinate system.

Fig. 3. Dynamics of the classical one-good, two-agent market economy in the price-quantity space, where quantity of the good traded, q, is constant. The economy is moving really in the price space.

We assume that potential V₁₂ describes the attraction between the buyer and the seller and has its minimum at the point p⁰¹². Then the solution of equations of motion describes movement or evolution of the entire economy as follows: the center of inertia of the whole system, introduced to theory by analogy with the center of inertia of the physical prototype, moves at a constant rate Ṗ, and the internal movement, i.e., of buyers and sellers relative to each other, represents an oscillation, usually anharmonic, around the point of equilibrium p⁰¹². This conclusion is trivially generalized for the case of an arbitrary number of buyers and sellers.

So we get classical economy with the following features:

1. Movement of the center of inertia at a constant rate signifies that if at some point of time a general price growth rate were Ṗ, then this growth will continue at the same rate. In other words, this type of economy implies that prices increase at a constant rate of inflation (or rate of inflation is constant).

2. Internal dynamics of economy means that economy is oscillating near the point of equilibrium. In this case, economy is found in the equilibrium state only within an insignificant period of time, just as a mechanical pendulum is, at its lowest point, in an equilibrium state for a short period of time. Moreover, rates of changes in the relative prices of sellers and buyers are maximal at the point of equilibrium, just as for the pendulum the rate of movement is also maximal at the point of equilibrium. According to our view, oscillations of economy relative to the point of equilibrium p⁰¹² represent nothing but the economy’s own business cycles, with a certain period of oscillation that is determined by solving equations of motion with specified mass mi and potential V₁₂. These results correlate to the Walrasian cobweb model which is well known in neoclassical economics.

It is obvious that in the broad sense of the word, classical economy is the new quantitative method of describing the market economies, in which the first priority role in the establishment of market prices play the straight negotiations of buyers and sellers as to parameters of transactions. It is clear that this price formation is not intrinsic to the huge markets of contemporary economies, but is unique to the relatively small markets for the initial period of the formation of valuable market relations and corresponding markets in the distant past, when markets were small, undeveloped and by the sufficiently slow, i.e., in which the transactions were accomplished after lengthy negotiations.

3. Conclusions

In this Chapter we developed classical economies and derived the corresponding equations of motion, namely the economic Lagrange equations in the price space. Intuitively, we suppose that the applied least action principle can be treated to some extent as the market-based trade maximization principle. The relationship between these two principles becomes more clear within the framework of quantum economy (see the following Chapters). The extension of the method for the price-quantity space is straightforward therefore we will not do it here (respective formulas, figures and discussions can be found in Chapter I). Conceptually, we can regard Lagrangian as the mathematical classical representation of the market invisible hand concept. Note that, according to the institutional and environmental principle, Lagrangian include not only inter-agent interactions but also the influences of the state and other external factors on the market agents. Therefore, figuratively, we can say that the market invisible hand puts into practice simultaneously plans and decisions of both the market agents and the state, other institutions etc. As is seen from the above shown example, physical classical models or simply classical economies deserve thorough investigation, as they happen to become an efficient tool of theoretical economics. However, there are reasons to believe that quantum models where the uncertainty and probability principle is used for description of companies’ and people’s behavior in the market are more adequate physical models of real economic systems. Recall that probability concept was first introduced into economic theory by one of the founders of quantum mechanics, J. von Neumann, in the 40s of the XX-th century [4].

References

1. L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz. Theoretical Physics, Vol. 1. Mechanics. Moscow, Fizmatlit, 2002.

2. L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz. Theoretical Physics, Vol. 3. Quantum Mechanics. Nonrelativistic Theory. Moscow, Fizmatlit, 2002.

3. M. Intriligator. Mathematical Methods of Optimization and Economic Theory. Moscow, Airis-press, 2002.

4. J. von Neumann and O. Morgenstern. Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton University Press, 1944.

CHAPTER IV. Functions of Supply and Demand

“Economics is not about things and tangible material objects; it is about men, their meanings and actions. Goods, commodities, and wealth and all the other notions of conduct are not elements of nature; they are elements of human meaning and conduct. He who wants to deal with them must not look at the external world; he must search for them in the meaning of acting men”.

Ludwig von Mises. Human Action. A Treatise on Economics. Page 92

PREVIEW. What are Functions of Supply and Demand?

In the present Chapter the notion of supply and demand functions in the market, traditional to economics, is exposed to critical rethinking from the point of view of the uncertainty and probability principle. The Stationary Probability Model in the Price Space is developed for the description of behavior of a seller and a buyer in the price space of a one-good market in an economy being in a normal stationary state. Within the framework of the model, the terms supply and demand have changed their meaning; a new definition of the seller’s supply and the buyer’s demand functions is given. These functions are probabilistic in nature and they are normalized to their total supply and demand expressed in monetary units. In other words, they are the seller’s and buyer’s probability distributions in making a purchase/sale transaction in the market for a certain sum of money, respectively. Further, with the help of the proposed additivity and multiplicativity formulas for supply and demand, the Stationary Probability Model in the Price Space is extended to economies having many goods and many agents in the price space. With this strategy the probabilistic supply and demand functions of the whole market are constructed. As a main result of the work, we have laid the groundwork for probability economics. It is defined as a new quantitative method for description, analysis, and investigation of the model as well as real economies and markets.

1. The Neoclassical Model of Supply and Demand

An old joke in a well-known economics textbook says that creating an economist is as simple as teaching a parrot to pronounce words “supply” and “demand” (S&D below). My former managerial economics lecturer shared his own humor on this subject: If one understands the theory of S&D elasticity, you‘ve got yourself a new economics professor! These jokes reflect an important role which is played in economics by the S&D concept, the formal realization of which we will call the traditional neoclassical model of S&D. Below we will give the most widespread version of the description of this model from the textbook [1]. To start with, we will see how economics defines the demand of each individual buyer [1]. It is possible to present demand in the form of a scale or a curve showing quantity q of a product that a consumer desires, is able to buy at each given prices p, and at a certain period of time. Further, the radical property of demand consists of the following: at an invariance of all other parameters (ceteris paribus), reduction of price leads to the corresponding increase of the quantity demanded. And, ceteris paribus, the inverse is also true; an increase in price leads to the corresponding reduction of the quantity demanded. In short, there is an inverse relationship between the price p and the quantity q demanded. Economists call this inverse relationship the law of demand.

The simplest explanation of the law of demand: a high price discourages the consumer to buy, and a low price strengthens their desire to buy. The additivity rule is used to obtain the demand function of the whole market, i.e., all individual demand functions are simply summarized for obtaining the market demand function D(p). The graph of the traditional demand function for a grain market is displayed in the Cartesian (P, Q)-plane in Fig. 1.

This example is intentionally taken from the textbook [1] where it has number 3–1. In order to avoid misunderstanding, we will make some remarks concerning this and all other drawings in this work. First, unlike the textbook [1], we plot price p on the horizontal axis P and quantity q on the vertical axis Q in the Cartesian (P, Q)-plane because price is an independent variable in all our theoretical constructions and conclusions. In exact sciences, an independent variable can only be plotted on the horizontal axis. Second, we measure quantity of grain in metric tons (ton) per a year (ton/year), and the price in American dollars ($) per ton ($/ton).

Fig. 1. Graph of the traditional neoclassical demand function D(p) for the model market of grain [1].

Thus, according to the textbook [1], demand is simply the plan or intention of a buyer concerning product purchase which is expressed in the form of tables (or curves). We will discuss in detail later how adequately such tables and curves can reflect the behavior of buyers in the market, and we will now make some remarks concerning the form of representation of buyer’s intentions in the given model.

First, the law of demand itself follows from neither an experiment, nor a theory; it is a statement as a whole which is consistent with common sense and elementary conclusions from real life. However, all of these conclusions are the result of observations of the behavior of real market prices and demand in the day-to-day activities of markets. In the market we only concern ourselves with real prices, real transactions, and the real sizes of these transactions. Sometimes, attention is given to total demand, but not at all to market demand functions or tables. Therefore, direct transfer of this empirical law on a quite abstract, uncertain and obscure demand function of an individual buyer is unnecessary.

In other words, the law of demand means the reflection of real market processes connected with continuous changes of S&D in the market over time. The traditional demand function is an attempt to describe a situation in the market where nothing changes. It is not a dispute about how correct or incorrect a traditional agent’s demand function is. Instead, we can say that there is no basis on which to consider this model, reasonably, logically, or empirically. In principle, it is impossible to deduce a traditional agent’s demand function from the data concerning the whole market. And there is no convincing empirical data, testifying that a buyer’s behavior in the market is reflected by such a downward-sloping demand curve in the interval of all possible prices from zero to infinity. To understand our logic, the reader can try to draw on paper a demand curve of a buyer who wants to buy a new Mercedes car at a price of 100 000 $/car, or to buy shares at the stock-exchange for 100 000 $. We are sure that he or she will meet obstacles and recognize that there is something wrong with the traditional model. Moreover, logically it is impossible to construct a traditional function of the whole market making use of empirical data for the same reasons as that for functions of an individual agent. We will concern ourselves with this question once again in the end of Chapter.

Second, our main objection against the traditional demand function is that when real buyers enter a real market, they “keep in mind” not a concrete demand function on a whole interval of prices from zero to infinity, but a concrete desire to buy a certain quantity of demanded goods at a price acceptable for them which is near a known “yesterday’s” price. This is illustrated by an example of an ordinary buyer in a consumer market, who needs a certain amount of sugar in a week – but no more and no less. It is also true for a business company in a wholesale market: it should buy exactly as many raw materials and goods as are necessary for production, without creating superfluous stocks and with delivery “just in time”. Therefore, the demand function of an individual buyer can be distinct from zero only in a small interval of prices, near a known “yesterday’s” market price. In order to obtain market functions it is necessary to summarize these rather narrow functions, instead of traditional functions, distinct from zero in the whole interval of prices from zero to infinity. Moreover, the fact that in the traditional model practically all authors have the demand function converging to a maximum near the zero price (some authors even have it diverging to infinity), seems, in our opinion, to be an artificial property of a person – to take the maximum “for free”. In a real market buyers do not behave like that, and in practice no life is observed in the markets near zero prices. It is a dead zone; there is neither supply nor demand there.

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