Socio-economic utility and chemical potential

Abstract

In statistical physics, the conservation of particle number results in the equalization of the chemical potential throughout a system at equilibrium. In contrast, the homogeneity of utility in socio-economic models is usually thought to rely on the competition between individuals, leading to Nash equilibrium. We show that both views can be reconciled by introducing a notion of chemical potential in a wide class of socio-economic models, and by relating it in a direct way to the equilibrium value of the utility. This approach also allows the dependence of utility across the system to be determined when agents take decisions in a probabilistic way. Numerical simulations of a urban economic model also suggest that our result is valid beyond the initially considered class of solvable models.

6 pages, 3 figures, final version

References in corpus (6)

• The large deviation approach to statistical mechanics
• Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics of the Zero-Range Process and Related Models
• Competition between collective and individual dynamics
• Intensive thermodynamic parameters in nonequilibrium systems
• The effects of violating detailed balance on critical dynamics
• Temperature in nonequilibrium systems with conserved energy

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Giant catalytic effect of altruists in Schelling's segregation model
• Theoretical approaches to the steady-state statistical physics of interacting dissipative units
• Free utility model for explaining the social gravity law
• Le Chatelier principle in replicator dynamics
• Sociohydrodynamics: data-driven modelling of social behavior
• Dynamics of extended Schelling models
• Hydrodynamics of Cooperation and Self-Interest in a Two-Population Occupation Model
• Dynamical fluctuations in a simple housing market model