Socio-Economic Analogues of the Gas Laws (Boyle's and Charles')

Angle, John (2011): Socio-Economic Analogues of the Gas Laws (Boyle's and Charles'). Published in: Proceedings of the 2011 Joint Statistical Meetings (19 December 2011): pp. 1375-1389.

Abstract

Most social scientists would reject the possibility of socio-economic analogues of the gas laws (Boyle’s and Charles’) on verisimilitude grounds. The gas laws relate the variables temperature, pressure, and volume. The possibility of socio-economic analogues of the gas laws and their variables is suggested by the similarity of two mathematical models. One model is the Inequality Process (IP), a particle system model that explains a wide scope of socio-economic phenomena. The IP is isomorphic to the particle system of the Kinetic Theory of Gases (KTG) up to two differences. The KTG is the micro-level explanation of the gas laws. Given a map from the KTG into the IP, the IP implies empirically valid socio-economic analogues of Boyle’s and Charles’ Laws.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Boyle’s Law; Charles’ Law; econophysics; income and wealth distribution; Inequality Process; Kinetic Theory of Gases
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C0 - General > C02 - Mathematical Methods

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