Economic Dynamics

This is the fourth edition of a book that, after circulating in the form of l- ture notes at the universities of Rome (now La Sapienza University of Rome) and Siena in the late 1960s, was originally published in 1971 under the titleMat- maticalMethodsandModelsinEconomicDynamics. Inthosefortyoddyearstwo main developments have occurred in economic dynamics. The ?rst is the much greater amount of advanced mathematics that is being used today with respect to the past. The second is the increasing importance of non-linear modelling as contrastedwiththelinearapproach(which,however,hasnotgoneoutoffashion). This fourth edition re?ects both developments. It contains additional advanced mathematical tools, and a larger amount of non-linear mathematics and appli- tions. These developments are re?ected especially in Part III, that now accounts forwellover50%ofthebook. ItgoeswithoutsayingthatIhavemadeeverye?ort topreservetheuser-friendlyfeatureofthepreviouseditions: thespiritofthebook hasremainedthesame, namelytogiveacomprehensive, butsimple, treatmentof the mathematical methods commonly used in dynamical economics, and to show how they are applied to build and analyse economic models. Accordingly, the focus is on methods, and every mathematical technique - troduced is followed by its application to selected economic models that serve as examples. Theunifyingprincipleintheexpositionofthedi?erenteconomicm- els is then seen to be the common mathematical technique. This process will enable the readers not only to understand the basic literature, but also to build and analyse their own models.

Table of Contents:
LINEAR DIFFERENCE EQUATIONS.- Difference Equations: General Principles.- First-order Difference Equations.- First-order Difference Equations in Economic Models.- Second-order Difference Equations.- Second-order Difference Equations in Economic Models.- Higher-order Difference Equations.- Higher-order Difference Equations in Economic Models.- Simultaneous Systems of Difference Equations.- Simultaneous Difference Systems in Economic Models.- LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS.- Differential Equations: General Principles.- First-order Differential Equations.- First-order Differential Equations in Economic Models.- Second-order Differential Equations.- Second-order Differential Equations in Economic Models.- Higher-order Differential Equations.- Higher-order Differential Equations in Economic Models.- Simultaneous Systems of Differential Equations.- Differential Equation Systems in Economic Models.- ADVANCED TOPICS.- Comparative Statics and the Correspondence Principle.- Stability of Equilibrium: A General Treatment.- Liapunov#x2019;s Second Method.- to Nonlinear Dynamics.- Bifurcation Theory.- Complex Dynamics.- Mixed Differential-Difference Equations.- Dynamic Optimization.- Saddle Points and Economic Dynamics.

About the Author :
Since 1974 is Professor Giancarlo Gandolfo full professor of International Economics, Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2005 he is member of the scientific committee of University of Rome La Sapienz Press. His main areas of research are international monetary economics, continuous time econometrics, mathematical methods and models of economic dynamics. He is recipient of several research grants by national and international institutions.

Review :
From the reviews of the fourth edition: “Gandolfo’s book Economic dynamics is an encyclopedic textbook that can also be useful for researchers. It provides the necessary mathematical background to understand most of the economic models that can be found in the literature. … a useful tool for graduate courses but mainly it is an exceptional reference for economists, applied mathematicians and all those curious researchers wanting to get a perspective of how economy can be investigated and modelled.” (Ricardo López-Ruiz, Mathematical Reviews, June, 2013)