Minimum Impatience Theorems for Recursive Economic Models

This book contributes to the lively discussion about the
reasons for and thepossible implications of the occurrence
of non-linear phenomena and chaos indynamic economic
systems. The author takes a fresh look at                           intertemporal
decision problems and shows how the time preference rate         of
the decision maker relates to the dynamic complexity of the
optimal   paths. It turns out that in order to get
complicated or chaotic optimal      paths the decision maker
has to be sufficiently impatient. In this sense,   the Minimum
Impatience Theorems supplement the existing literature               on
„turnpike theorems“ and global asymptotic stability of
normative      economic systems. The framework in which the
results are derived is a very   general dynamic optimization
problem with recursive (stationary) utility      functionals.
Both the case where time is a discrete variable and the            case
of continuous time models are treated.