Preferential attachment and growth dynamics in complex systems

Kazuko Yamasaki, Kaushik Matia, Sergey V. Buldyrev, Dongfeng Fu, Fabio Pammolli (), Massimo Riccaboni () and H. Eugene Stanley

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Complex systems can be characterized by classes of equivalency of their elements defined according to system specific rules. We propose a generalized preferential attachment model to describe the class size distribution. The model postulates preferential growth of the existing classes and the steady influx of new classes. According to the model, the distribution changes from a pure exponential form for zero influx of new classes to a power law with an exponential cut-off form when the influx of new classes is substantial. Predictions of the model are tested through the analysis of a unique industrial database, which covers both elementary units (products) and classes (markets, firms) in a given industry (pharmaceuticals), covering the entire size distribution. The model’s predictions are in good agreement with the data. The paper sheds light on the emergence of the exponent τ ≈ 2 observed as a universal feature of many biological, social and economic problems.

Keywords: Firm Growth; Pareto Distribution; Pharmaceutical Industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 L25 D39 L00 L60 L16 L65 E17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-06-26, Revised 2006-02-06
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Published in Physical Review E 3.74(2006): pp. 0351031-0351034

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:15908

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