Coupled flare attractors – a discrete prototype for economic modelling

Abstract

A chaotic environment can give rise to “flares” if an autocatalytic variable responds in a multiplicative, threshold–type fashion to the environmental forcing. An “economic unit” similarly depends in its growth behavior on the unpredictable (chaotic?) buying habits of its customers, say. It turns out that coupled flare attractors are surprisingly robust in the sense that the resulting “economy” is largely independent of the extent of diffusive coupling used.Some simulations are presented.